Water and Sanitation in Cox’s Bazar

The British Red Cross works around the world to help people facing hunger, who are caught up in conflict, or who have had to flee their homes. Together with the British Red Cross, the Swarovski Foundation is helping women and their communities to develop safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene programs that prevent the spread of disease in the world’s largest refugee camp.

Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, regularly experiencing cyclones and floods, that create devastating humanitarian impacts. The British Red Cross has worked alongside the Bangladesh Red Crescent for over a decade, to help communities prepare and respond to these disasters. Bangladesh is now also home to 900,000 refugees. These people are living in overcrowded and makeshift settlements in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar.

In one of the quickest and largest population movements in recent history, hundreds of thousands of people fled violence in Myanmar in August 2017. Since then, more than 700,000 people, mostly women and children, have joined 200,000 people who had already made the same journey over the last decade. They are now living in the grips of a humanitarian emergency, and support is desperately needed. Water and sanitation infrastructure is incredibly important in camps for displaced people, in order to ensure that disease doesn’t spread and to keep people healthy.

Through the Swarovski Foundation’s support, the British Red Cross will support 810 people with water and sanitation infrastructure by providing:

• Access to Safe Water Supplies – fixing pumps, implementing water systems and water treatments

• Promote Hygiene – distribution of female hygiene kits, provision of soap and handwashing techniques

• Waste Management Systems - installing latrines to effectively remove waste by turning it into compost