Medical Teams and Food for the Hungry Launch Joint Rohingya COVID-19 Response Program (JRCRP)

(Portland, OR) October 19, 2021 – Medical Teams International is pleased to announce that it has been awarded $2.35 million USD from the U.S. Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) for two years of programming in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh, with $1.16 million awarded for the first year of the project. Medical Teams and partner Food for the Hungry have launched the Joint Rohingya COVID-19 Response Program (JRCRP) to save lives and prevent COVID-19 among Rohingya refugees and host communities in Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee camp.

The JRCRP’s three objectives include: 1) improving community knowledge, behaviors, and prevention practices related to COVID-19 and other communicable diseases, 2) improving access to and quality of COVID-19 case management and treatment for targeted refugee and host communities, and 3) improving access to mental health and psychosocial services for vulnerable individuals affected by the pandemic, including health care staff and individuals with COVID-19 and their families.

“This funding comes at a critically important time as COVID-19 continues to cause unnecessary suffering and death among Rohingya refugees,” said Roger Sandberg, VP of Field Operations. “Medical Teams is grateful for this PRM funding and to be responding with Food for the Hungry to the urgent physical and mental health needs of both adults and children in Kutupalong.”

As of August 31, 2021, there were over 895,515 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar district, half of which were children. The target population for the JRCRP is 81,956 refugees who reside in Kutupalong camp.

About Medical Teams in Bangladesh

Medical Teams International, in partnership with Food for the Hungry, has been operating in Bangladesh since September 2017 to address the influx of Rohingya Refugees into Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh. Together, Medical Teams and Food for the Hungry form the Joint Rohingya Response Program (JRRP). Since the program started at the end of 2017, it has sought to address the overall health and rehabilitation of affected communities in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar District.

About Medical Teams International

Founded in 1979, Medical Teams International provides life-saving medical care for people in crisis, such as survivors of natural disasters and refugees. We care for the whole person— physical, emotional, social and spiritual. Daring to love like Jesus, we serve all people—regardless of religion, nationality, sex or race. Learn more at medicalteams.org and on social media using @medicalteams.

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