Covid-19 led to food insecurity in Cox’s Bazar: WFP

Almost half of the urban population in Cox's Bazar Sadar are struggling to get food during the pandemic due to significant downturns in livelihoods, according to World Food Programme's (WFP) assessment. 

The "Cox's Bazar Urban Vulnerability Assessment" found that 40 percent of those surveyed have had no income since March, and 48 percent struggled to buy enough food.

As a result, they have been heavily relying on external assistance, including those from the government and donors, said WFP yesterday.

"Covid-19 is more than a health crisis…it's also a socio-economic crisis for millions of people around the world. Here in Bangladesh, urban populations and those who rely on tourism or the informal wage sector to make a living are the hardest hit," said Sheila Grudem, senior emergency coordinator for WFP in Cox's Bazar.

Daily wage workers have experienced more than 70 percent drop in incomes and those self-employed have seen a 44 percent decrease. Business owners and traders have seen income level drop to two-thirds of usual earnings during the shutdown.

In April, WFP launched a programme in Cox's Bazar targeting vulnerable members of the host community to provide food and cash assistance, complementing existing distributions of the government.

As part of the Covid-19 response, WFP has provided local communities with assistance through various means, including school feeding and disaster risk reduction programmes. Now they are extending this work to cover half a million people in the district, including over 62,000 in Sadar," said Grudem.