'Resilience Has Its Limits': MSF Warns of Growing Needs and Shrinking Support for Rohingya in Bangladesh
Nearly nine years after Bangladesh opened its borders to Rohingya refugees, Doctors Without Borders warns that needs in Cox's Bazar continue to grow while humanitarian funding and support steadily decline. More than one million Rohingya remain in limbo with no durable solution in sight.
Photo Source: Ante Bussmann / MSF
COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh: Nearly nine years after Bangladesh opened its borders to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar, medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders, known internationally as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has warned that needs in Cox's Bazar continue to grow while support for the broader humanitarian response is steadily shrinking.
In a report published on June 25, 2026, written jointly by Elko Brummelman, MSF's country representative in Bangladesh, and Muhammad Hubaib, a Rohingya refugee and MSF camp-based team member, the organisation said the crisis is far from over and that families are still arriving from Myanmar with stories of violence, forced recruitment, extortion, and fear.
Muhammad Hubaib, a Rohingya refugee and MSF camp-based team member
"This latest cycle of conflict differs from 2017, marked by fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces and the Arakan Army since late 2023. While all communities in Rakhine State are impacted, Rohingya are once again bearing the greatest consequences, forced from their homes and driven to make deadly journeys in search of safety," the report states. [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/8-years-on-accountability-needed-for-myanmar-atrocities-against-rohingya/)
A Million People in Limbo
Today, more than one million Rohingya refugees live in the camps of Cox's Bazar. Many have spent years in overcrowded shelters with limited opportunities to move freely, earn an income, or build a future. [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/8-years-on-accountability-needed-for-myanmar-atrocities-against-rohingya/)
For Hubaib, who fled Myanmar in 2017 and now works with MSF while volunteering as a teacher for Rohingya youth, the situation is deeply personal.
"We, the people labelled as 'refugees', remind the world that we are human beings," he said. "We deserve dignity, protection and equal rights to rebuild our lives. I am tired of counting divisions among human beings with different, unique words. We share the same humanity, the same blood, the same hopes and the same capacity to dream." [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/8-years-on-accountability-needed-for-myanmar-atrocities-against-rohingya/)
The Limits of Resilience
MSF's report takes direct aim at the international community's repeated praise of Rohingya "resilience," calling it an increasingly unjust narrative that risks suggesting the community can indefinitely endure fundamentally unendurable conditions.
"What the world misinterprets as sustainable resilience is a tiring, costly will to survive, kept alive by parents fighting to educate their children and youth voluntarily teaching younger generations with no clear pathway forward," the report states. [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/8-years-on-accountability-needed-for-myanmar-atrocities-against-rohingya/)
MSF noted a growing disconnect between international rhetoric and lived reality, pointing out that nearly a decade into the crisis, most Rohingya refugees remain without meaningful opportunities to work, move freely, pursue higher education, or shape their own futures. "In the absence of concrete pathways and solutions, including for a dignified and safe return to Myanmar, commitments to resilience and self-reliance risk becoming little more than empty promises," the organisation warned. [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/8-years-on-accountability-needed-for-myanmar-atrocities-against-rohingya/)
Medical Needs Remain High
MSF said its medical teams continue to respond to infectious diseases, chronic illnesses, maternal health needs, and mental health concerns across the camps. According to the report, in 2025 alone, MSF provided 438,805 outpatient consultations and 118,929 emergency consultations, conducted 75,583 mental health and psychiatric consultations, supported 4,547 deliveries, provided 18,477 consultations for diabetes, treated 15,293 patients for hepatitis C, cared for 3,515 survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and supported 3,493 patients for violence-related injuries.
Funding Cuts Threatening Essential Services
MSF said it operates independently of the UN-led humanitarian funding system, but warned it is acutely aware of the impact that funding reductions across the broader response could have on Rohingya refugees. "Our teams are already witnessing increasing pressure on essential services, including healthcare, water and sanitation, education, protection services and food assistance," the report states. These pressures, MSF added, are felt by both Rohingya refugees and the communities of Cox's Bazar that have lived alongside the world's largest refugee settlement for nearly a decade. [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/8-years-on-accountability-needed-for-myanmar-atrocities-against-rohingya/)
A Call for Political Action
As Bangladesh prepares to assume the presidency of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly under the leadership of physician Khalilur Rahman, MSF said the country has an opportunity for another landmark act of humanity, placing the protection needs of a violently persecuted minority at the centre of global discussions. [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/08/8-years-on-accountability-needed-for-myanmar-atrocities-against-rohingya/)
The organisation urged Bangladesh to use its UN General Assembly presidency to insist on meaningful political action, action that builds on, rather than undermines, the decision to open its borders to the Rohingya in 2017.
The prospect of safe, voluntary, and dignified return for Rohingya to Myanmar remains distant as conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army continues across Rakhine State.