DHAKA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The government of Bangladesh has signed a 50-million-U.S.-dollar grant financing agreement with the World Bank to help strengthen the government's health care services to respond to the health, nutrition, and family planning needs of the Rohingya population.
The agreement was signed by Kazi Shofiqul Azam, senior secretary of Bangladesh's Economic Relations Division, and Qimiao Fan, World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, on behalf of the government and the World Bank, respectively, at the Economic Relations Division in Dhaka on Thursday.
This additional financing to the existing Health Sector Support Project will help provide essential health and nutrition services to the Rohingya people in Cox's Bazaar, some 292 km southeast of capital Dhaka.
The financing will cover maternal, neonatal, infant, child, and adolescent health, nutrition and psychosocial services, as well as reproductive health care, said the bank in a statement.
"Nearly 1 million Rohingya live in congested camps, including the Kutupalong camp, the world's largest refugee camp. They face risks of disease outbreaks and suffer from high rates of child malnutrition. Their health care needs are enormous," said Fan.
"This grant financing will help the government plan and manage health, nutrition and population services for the Rohingya people while the existing project will continue to provide healthcare to the local population."
This is the first in a series of projects financed by the World Bank to support Bangladesh in dealing with the Rohingya influx, said the bank.
