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The world is facing a tremendous problem in the form of food insecurity that is posing a great challenge to achieving sustainable development goal 2 of creating a hunger-free world. Refugees and displaced populations are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition, who lack any productive assets and depend on aid. Rohingya refugees, displaced from Myanmar and took refuge in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, live in a crowded unhealthy environment and are severely vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition. In our recent study, we found that only 21.6% of the households in Rohingya refugee camps had acceptable food security status. Interestingly, this study further revealed that acceptable food security status was significantly higher among the households that had some additional income aside from aid, compared to those relying on aid alone. This shows the importance of promoting livelihood opportunities to improve food security status among the camp dwellers. In this paper, we presented our views on promoting livelihood opportunities to address the overwhelming food insecurity crisis among the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on the Rohingya and the Bangladeshi host communities, which have been well documented in the literature. However, the specific groups of people rendered most vulnerable and marginalized during the pandemic have not been studied comprehensively. This paper draws on data to identify the most vulnerable groups of people within the Rohingya and the host communities of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employed a systematic sequential method to identify the most vulnerable groups in the context of Rohingya and Host communities of Cox's Bazar. We conducted a rapid literature review (n = 14 articles) to list down Most vulnerable groups (MVGs) in the studied contexts during the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted four (04) group sessions with humanitarian providers and relevant stakeholders in a research design workshop to refine the list. We also conducted field visits to both communities and interviewed community people using In-depth interviews (n = 16), Key-informant Interviews (n = 8), and several informal discussions to identify the most vulnerable groups within them and their social drivers of vulnerabilities. Based on the feedback received from the community, we finalized our MVGs criteria. The data collection commenced from November 2020 to March 2021. Informed consent was sought from all participants, and ethical clearance for this study was obtained from the IRB of BRAC JPGSPH. The most vulnerable groups identified in this study were: single female household heads, pregnant and lactating mothers, persons with disability, older adults, and adolescents. Our analysis also found some factors that may determine the different levels of vulnerabilities and risks faced by some groups more than others in the Rohingya and host communities during the pandemic. Some of these factors include economic constraints, gender norms, food security, social safety-security, psychosocial well-being, access to healthcare services, mobility, dependency, and a sudden halt in education. One of the most significant impacts of COVID-19 was the loss of earning sources, especially for the already economically vulnerable; this had far-reaching consequences on individuals' food security and food consumption. Across the communities, it was found that the economically most affected group was single female household heads. The elderly and pregnant and lactating mothers face challenges seeking health services due to their restricted mobility and dependency on other family members. Persons living with disabilities from both contexts reported feelings of inadequacy in their families, exacerbated during the pandemic. Additionally, the shutdown in the formal education, and informal learning centres in both communities had the most significant impact on the adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown. This study identifies the most vulnerable groups and their vulnerabilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Rohingya and Host communities of Cox's Bazar. The reasons behind their vulnerabilities are intersectional and represent deeply embedded patriarchal norms that exist in both communities. The findings are essential for the humanitarian aid agencies and policymakers for evidence-based decision-making and service provisions for addressing the vulnerabilities of the most vulnerable groups., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Sultana et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Safeguarding is rapidly rising up the international development agenda, yet literature on safeguarding in related research is limited. This paper shares processes and practice relating to safeguarding within an international research consortium (the ARISE hub, known as ARISE). ARISE aims to enhance accountability and improve the health and well-being of marginalised people living and working in informal urban spaces in low-income and middle-income countries (Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Sierra Leone). Our manuscript is divided into three key sections. We start by discussing the importance of safeguarding in global health research and consider how thinking about vulnerability as a relational concept (shaped by unequal power relations and structural violence) can help locate fluid and context specific safeguarding risks within broader social systems. We then discuss the different steps undertaken in ARISE to develop a shared approach to safeguarding: sharing institutional guidelines and practice; facilitating a participatory process to agree a working definition of safeguarding and joint understandings of vulnerabilities, risks and mitigation strategies and share experiences; developing action plans for safeguarding. This is followed by reflection on our key learnings including how safeguarding, ethics and health and safety concerns overlap; the challenges of referral and support for safeguarding concerns within frequently underserved informal urban spaces; and the importance of reflective practice and critical thinking about power, judgement and positionality and the ownership of the global narrative surrounding safeguarding. We finish by situating our learning within debates on decolonising science and argue for the importance of an iterative, ongoing learning journey that is critical, reflective and inclusive of vulnerable people., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)