WHO Cox’s Bazar: Rohingya emergency crisis - Situation Report: May 2026

Overview

WHO continued to support disease surveillance, outbreak response, and continuity of essential health services for approximately 1.1 million refugees and host community members in May 2026. Priority areas included measles response, emergency preparedness, and immunization.

Coordination and Leadership

WHO, as Health Sector lead, maintained coordination across the response.

Key actions:

• Ensured regular coordination and information-sharing among partners across all levels
• Addressed gaps in field-level coordination through partner engagement
• One Cox’s Bazar-level strategic Health Sector meeting, 33 camp-level coordination meetings, and one SAG meeting convened

Partners updated on: 

• Epidemiological trends and priority health risks
• Operational risks related to funding constraints and scaling down of operations of key implementing partners
• Launch of the 2026 Joint Response Plan (JRP) update for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis, aligned with Health Sector Strategic Objectives (SO1, SO2, SO3)

Health Sector information products (4W, HeRAMS, EWARS) remain accessible to partners:
https://rohingyaresponse.org/sectors/coxs-bazar/health/

Protection-Sensitive Programming (Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA))
WHO, with the Health Sector and the PSEA Network, strengthened partner capacity to prevent and respond to SEA across the response.

• 34 participants from 23 organizations engaged in a multi-agency workshop on 14 May 2026
• 23 PSEA Network members trained on the UN Victims’ Assistance Protocol through cascading training