Voices from the Field: A Qualitative Study of Humanitarian Practitioners’ Experiences in Delivering Sexual and Reproductive Health Services to the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for the Rohingya in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar focus on critical interventions like maternal and newborn care, access to family planning and modern contraceptives, and community-based programming. This study explores the experiences of humanitarian practitioners in delivering SRH care during protracted humanitarian crises. This study uses qualitative research methods, including 23 semi-structured interviews with international and local humanitarian practitioners who were or are involved with the delivery of SRH care to the Rohingya in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. Although SRH services are available free of cost, religious and cultural beliefs, myths, and misinformation lead to low uptake among the Rohingya, particularly women and girls. Operational, infrastructural, and resource constraints also exacerbate the existing barriers in service delivery. Nevertheless, humanitarian and aid organizations have developed strategic interventions to continue the delivery of emergency and critical SRH services. Adopting cultural sensitivity and involving faith-based leaders in SRH-related communication has led to promising developments in Cox’s Bazar. The introduction of community-based transportation and volunteers has enhanced access to SRH services for women and girls. Capacity-building initiatives for local community health volunteers have also resulted in a greater sense of empowerment within the Rohingya community. The findings and discussion in this study reinforce the need for humanitarian practitioners to adopt community-involved and innovative strategies to increase SRH service utilization and build trust among conflict-affected populations.