This is what the international aid you paid for in your taxes has done for Rohingya refugees

One year on from the culmination of this man made crisis, I want to say thank you to those Britons who are enabling us to alleviate the suffering of Rohingya people and ensure their most basic needs are met

Seeing the trauma of Rohingya children is an experience I will never forget.

Last year I travelled to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and heard well documented accounts of people who had seen their homes burnt down and family members raped and murdered while fleeing a brutal campaign of terror by the Burmese military.

I vowed Britain would do everything we could to help the Rohingya people who fled ethnic cleansing in Burma. And we have.

Dedicated and selfless British doctors and nurses helped contain a potentially deadly diphtheria outbreak in the camps. We have worked with Bangladeshi medics and other partners to vaccinate more than 900,000 Rohingya and locals against the disease.

The British public have shown remarkable generosity, raising £28m for a Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal, including £5m which has been matched, pound for pound by UK aid.

And the British government has taken a global lead, donating £129m since the latest crisis began and mobilising the international community to secure hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding to meet the urgent needs of refugees.

UK aid, made possible by you, the British taxpayer, has meant nearly half a million people will receive food and clean water, at least 200,000 people will receive shelter and 120,000 under-fives will receive emergency nutrition.

The UK is now training local people to help address the psychological needs of deeply traumatised men, women and children. We are also providing essential hygiene kits, and helping women and girls create sanitary products in the camp. These may seem like small steps, but we are laying the groundwork for displaced Rohingya to start rebuilding their lives.

We have treated and prevented malnutrition, we have reunited traumatised children with their families and we have helped vulnerable women and girls who are at risk of sex trafficking. We have also been leading talks at the UN Security Council to galvanise the international community into action.

However we cannot assume the immediate dangers are over. In the past two months, heavy monsoon rains have raised the risk of flooding, landslides and water borne diseases, in what is now one of the world’s biggest refugee camps.

Thousands of women have, or are waiting to give birth in these desperate conditions, during the cyclone and flooding season. From the moment these infants take their first breath they are fighting against the odds just to survive. Britain is improving those odds. Our support means trained midwives are helping deliver those babies safely.

But the newborns will be stateless people and the Burmese government has denied the Rohingya citizenship in its territory.

If displaced Rohingya families are to return to northern Rakhine state, the Burmese authorities must take clear and verifiable steps to create the conditions for them to do so safely and voluntarily.

This can only happen if Burma urgently implements the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission to deal with the causes of the crisis – one of the legacies the late Kofi Annan has left us. This means permitting immediate and effective access for UN agencies, as well as addressing issues such as citizenship rights for Rohingya, and guaranteeing their freedom of movement.

The UK is already providing emergency support for the estimated 200,000 Rohingya and others who remain in northern Rakhine state. But our work is hampered by lack of access. The Burmese government must remove these restrictions to ensure aid can reach people who need it.

To date there is little Burma has done that creates confidence displaced Rohingya could return safely. Consequently, we must help the Bangladeshi government prepare for the possibility refugees may be in their country for some time.

Burma must do more, and others too.

The UN’s joint response plan for the crisis in March called for $950m (£739m) from the international community. Only a third of that target has been achieved. Other governments and international donors must step up as the UK has done.

One year on from the culmination of the crisis, I want to say thank you to those Britons enabling us to alleviate the suffering of Rohingya people and ensure their most basic needs are met. Thank you to the medics and humanitarians saving lives. Thank you to our armed forces, whose expertise has helped keep women and children safe. And thank you to the generous British public. All we have done has only been possible because of your voluntary donations and because of UK aid funds, made possible through your taxes.

What you as individuals, and we together as a nation have done over the last 12 months is humbling. I hope you take a moment today to remember the plight of Rohingya people, and take pride in what you have done to help them.

Penny Mordaunt is a Conservative politician and the UK’s secretary of state for international development