Attachments
Highlights
-
In 2018, UNICEF supported the provision of safe water, sanitation and key messages on hygiene practices for 215,964 refugees in three camps.
-
UNICEF supported the vaccination of 35,401 refugee children (29,103 Burundians and 6,298 Congolese) against measles and polio to contain childhood illnesses.
-
UNICEF and partners provided Vitamin A supplements to 54,775 refugee children (41,796 Burundians and 12,979 Congolese) aged 6-59 months during routine and bi-annual campaigns. Furthermore, 2,172 children with severe acute malnutrition were treated with a cure rate of 89 per cent.
-
A total of 7,587 unaccompanied and separated children were provided with protection services including psychosocial support with from social welfare officers deployed in the refugee camps and host communities.
-
With support from UNICEF, 109,317 Burundian and Congolese refugee children were enrolled in pre- and primary schools.
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
Due to ongoing voluntary repatriation to Burundi, there was a reduction of eight per cent in the number of refugees and asylum seekers living in Tanzania, from 358,398 in 2017 to 326,942 in 2018. The majority of these refugees are from Burundi (199,741) and DRC (84,246)1, and 284,300 are hosted in camps in Kigoma region. Fifty-six per cent of the refugee population are children under 18 years, and more than 7,500 are unaccompanied and separated children. Refugees in Tanzania are hosted in three camps (Nyarugusu, Mtendeli and Nduta) which have pockets of overcrowding with limited basic services and restrictions on livelihoods. The main causes of morbidity among under-fives in all out-patient visits in camp health facilities, in 2018 were: malaria at 33 per cent, upper respiratory tract infection at 22 per cent, lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) at 13 per cent, skin infections at 4% and acute water diarrhea (AWD) at three per cent.
Tanzania has not received any asylum seekers from Burundi in 2018 but there was a small wave of new asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) arriving in Tanzania in January 2018. The total number of new Congolese in 2018 is 1,774. Of this number, 543 were new arrivals from December 2017 that were cleared for registration in January 2018.
Voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees resumed in November 2018 following a hold in September 2018 due to temporary suspension of NGO’s in Burundi by the Government, and the lack of resources on both sides of the border. As of December 2018, 56,049 Burundian refugees had returned home since the voluntary repatriation began in August 2017. Of the total returnees, 42,946 Burundian refugees returned in 2018 following the acceleration of the voluntary process to two convoys per week (with up to 1,000 returnees per convoy) as agreed during the third tripartite meeting between the governments of Burundi and Tanzania in March 2018.
Successive mass meetings were held by the Government of Tanzania across the three camps in July 2018 to promote returns resulting in an increase by 50 per cent in the number of refugees registering to return since mid-year. On 29 March, two of eight buses in a voluntary repatriation convoy of Burundian refugees were involved in an accident while travelling from Nduta camp to Ngozi Province in Burundi. The accident happened near Ngara town in Kagera region leaving 34 people injured and eight dead, including six Burundian refugees, one staff from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and one Tanzanian national. Voluntary repatriation was paused for three weeks and procedures to ensure safety and order were reviewed.
Between June -July 2018, the Government of Tanzania imposed new restrictions on livelihood activities and motorbike movements in the camps including closure of businesses. There was some flexibility on a camp by camp basis on lifting the bans towards the end of the year. The UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Mr. Volker Türk, visited Tanzania in August 2018 emphasizing that freedom of choice is paramount in every refugee’s decision to return to their home country.
Since April 2018, there have been no reported cases of cholera in Kigoma, the refugee hosting region, attributed in part to UNICEF and partners, intensive control measures through the Regional and District Health Management Teams that strengthened prevention efforts in the host communities surrounding the camps. The local government in Kigoma also instituted by-laws to ensure families have latrines installed with handwashing facilities. Committees were formed to monitor the situation through house to house visits. Additionally, regional and district medical teams responded in a timely way after being informed of the outbreak, thus controlling the outbreak from spreading outside the area. Suspected cholera cases were reported from the new asylum seekers arriving from DRC in January 2018 and in April 2018 and over 100 cholera cases were reported in a military camp in Kigoma; however, these outbreaks were contained. By the end of the year, some new suspected cholera cases were reported in Uvinza district indicating vigilance is required.
A total of 32,996 cholera cases including 548 deaths have been reported in Tanzania mainland since August 2015. Of these, a total of 4,365 (13.2%) cases and 82 (15%) deaths were reported in 2018. Regions with emerging and re-emerging cholera outbreaks in 2018 were Morogoro, Iringa, Kigoma, Dodoma, Arusha, Rukwa, Manyara, Songwe and Ruvuma.
The WFP general food basket distribution was inconsistent from August 2017 and throughout 2018, ranging between 50-70 per cent of planned rations. While supplementary food rations for people with special needs continued at 100 per cent, the reduced food rations have been linked to negative coping skills including: absenteeism in schools, child labor in neighboring farms, theft of supplies and selling non-food relief items. The proxy global acute malnutrition (GAM) identified through the integrated nutrition screening in June 2018 Standardized Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS) in October/November 2018 revealed that the GAM prevalence is 2.4 per cent down from 3.9 per cent in 2017. As such the situation is not yet at alert stage as the GAM is within the threshold of the international Sphere standard. WFP increased the general food basket distribution to 100 per cent from November 2018.
In response to high risk of Ebola importation from Eastern DRC, the National Ebola Task team led by the Ministry of Health conducted a joint capacity and gaps analysis in the five at risk regions bordering the affected area. International airports of Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Songwe and at risk regions bordering the DRC (Kigoma, Kagera, Katavi, Mwanza, Rukwa and Songwe) have been placed on alert. Surveillance and control measures have been strengthened and training on early detection and reporting has been conducted for the regional and community health management teams (R/CHMT) from five at risk regions: Kigoma, Kagera, Katavi, Mwanza, Rukwa and Songwe, and contingency supplies including personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectants, sanitizers and cleaning facilities and equipment have been provided. Thermo scanners were installed in four ports of entry bordering DRC (Manyovu, Kigoma airport, Kigoma port and Mabamba. Community awareness and sensitization on the potential threat of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), signs and symptoms and actions required have been released/disseminated through press releases by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children and social media with the support of the National Social Mobilization Task team.
UNICEF Tanzania was part of the revision and development of the 2019/2020 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRRP) for Burundian and Congolese refugee. This is a multi-national two-year plan, which is based on estimates that at the beginning of 2019 a total of 317,000 refugees (210,000 Burundian/ 107,000 Congolese) will be targeted and estimates that at the beginning of 2020 the anticipated refugee population could be as low as 258,280 refugees (122,000 Burundians/136,280 Congolese) due to repatriation. The plan further extends its support to the hosting districts to bridge the humanitarian and development divide. Additionally, UNICEF has been part of the revision and updating of the contingency plan for the potential new influxes from DRC considering the presidential elections scheduled for end of 2018, with a planning figure of additional 25,000 new refugees should the situation deteriorate.
Despite the lack of new arrivals from Burundi over the past twelve months, given the protracted nature of the refugee response and the volatile political situation in the DRC and Burundi, new influxes could spill into Tanzania, as indicated in the contingency plans prepared before the elections in DRC. Even without counting new arrivals, the refugee population continues to grow with up to 1,000 babies born each month across the three camps. UNICEF has developed an internal contingency plan to address the needs of new arrivals from the DRC in the event that the elections spark a significant outflow, and closely monitors the situation with partners in the Refugee Working Group. Age breakdown2 among refugees in camps and communities at the end of 2018 is outlined below.
As Tanzania has hosted refugees for over 50 years, more efforts are being made to strengthen national systems to provide basic services for refugees, as well as focusing on development gaps in refugee hosting communities through the UN Kigoma Joint Programme (UN KJP) and the 2016-2021 United Nations Assistance Development Plan 11. UNICEF continues to support the refugee hosting districts in Kigoma region through the UN Kigoma Joint Programme and is leading two outcomes; Violence against Women and Children (VAWC) and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). In addition, UNICEF is part of another outcome focusing on empowering adolescent girls through education. A health, HIV/AIDS and nutrition component will be added with the support of the Irish Aid funding for a period of three years, targeting 50 per cent of the total population in eight district councils in Kigoma region. UNICEF participates in the regular quarterly coordination meeting for the UN KJP Theme Leads to discuss progress in project implementation including challenges encountered by partners. Partners agreed to establish a coordination mechanism to link the host communities with existing local government structures to ensure ownership and sustainability.