MEASLES AND POLIO CAMPAIGNS – Countrywide measles and polio vaccination campaign was launched in April. The vaccination campaign is part of the response to the measles outbreak that affected all Sudan States since November 2018, with over 5,959 cases reported across resident, host and refugee communities. The campaign is targeting 3.4 million children between 9 months and 10 years of age for measles, and below 5 years of age for polio. The vaccination campaign is being paired with health promotion initiatives to raise awareness of the benefits of the measles vaccine and support symptom recognition and reporting by communities at risk.

ENROLLMENT CAMPAIGNS LAUNCHED FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN IN EAST DARFUR – The exercise has seen enrolment nearly double in a two-week period, from 617 refugee students to 1,210 students across both Al Nimir and Kario camps. In El Ferdous settlements, over 800 refugee students enrolled so far. The campaigns include coordinated refugee community sensitization initiatives on the importance of school enrolment and attendance, especially for girls. The 2019/2020 school year is scheduled to begin in June.

Amid hostilities in Libya, 146 refugees evacuated to Italy. 146 refugees were evacuated today from Libya to Italy in a joint operation between UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and Italian and Libyan authorities. Italy is the first country to have stepped forward to receive evacuees from Libya since the recent violence began. The evacuation was carried out in collaboration with the Libyan Ministry of Interior.

The humanitarian situation in South Sudan has also not seen any marked improvement and remains dire. Internal and external displacement continues. The Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda host a total of 2.28 million refugees from South Sudan.

Japan contributes USD 7.5 Million to Support Refugees and Host Communities in Uganda. The support will go to five UN agencies including; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Office for Project Service (UNOPS).

UNICEF & UNHCR held a Regional meeting on the Global Compact On Refugees (GCR) and application of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) in Eastern and Southern Africa (16 and 17 April 2019)

PAKISTAN: Lahore, UNHCR Pakistan Representative, Ruvendrini Menikdiwela received Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards 2018 in Lahore from Majeeb-ur-Rehman Shami. UNHCR donated USD 6.2 million for radiotherapy machines for SKMCH Peshawar to support free-of-cost treatment to cancer patients, including Afghan refugees.

The SGBV WG met regularly in March 2019 and reviewed the Terms of reference for the working group. In March the SGBV WG marked the celebration of International Women’s Day with the production of common IEC materials on the national theme “She innovates”. 300 posters were produced and disseminated in 3 refugee camps and host communities to celebrate refugee and Jordanian women volunteers commitment to innovate and build a safer environment for all women and girls in Jordan. The SGBV WG selected success stories of women and girls from 9 different organization producing and disseminating 100 boxes with stories featuring women and girls that despite facing challenges have found creative ways to claim their rights. Moreover the SGBV WG championed the inclusion of two priorities in OCHA humanitarian funding allocation and disseminated a guidance note on Do and Do not on GBV proposal writing. The first meeting of the SAG- Strategic Advisory Group took place for the discussion of workplan and strategic priorities. Moreover in March SGBV WG nominated three gender focal points to support gender mainstreaming in the sector. The sub working group completed the planning exercise for the Jordan Response Plan.

Due to continued new arrivals from Burundi into Rwanda, albeit in small numbers, additional space is needed to ensure a camp extension in Mahama Camp. The camp is designed for 60,000 refugees and the camp population has reached 59,319 as of 28 February 2019.

In February, there were reports that 500 South Sudanese returned from Uganda, 200 from Ethiopia and 100 from DRC. Although there is neither facilitation nor promotion of refugee returns to South Sudan, as the current conditions are not yet conducive for durable, safe and dignified returns, UNHCR recognizes the refugees’ right to return and has protection mandate for monitoring refugee returns, including those that return in a self-organized manner