UNHCR is working closely with the Government of Sudan to improve South Sudanese refugee access to documentation and identification (ID) in Khartoum through a phased registration process. The Government's Immigration and Passport Police (IPP) unit initiated the first phase in mid-February to verify the total number of South Sudanese refugees living in Khartoum and issue them with foreigner ID numbers. Over 22,000 refugees have been registered by the IPP so far. The 2nd phase will be led by UNHCR and COR with biometric registration in order to support their access to protection, documentation and other assistance. Biometric registration will likely start in May and will be rolled out concurrently with the IPP process.

UNHCR in collaboration with the Şişli Municipality organized a three-month vocational training on hospital reception for refugees from Syria and Iraq.

Jordan Humanitarian Fund JHF/ OCHA Health Sector picked up as one of the priority sector for March call while the sector define it priority under “Projects that support secondary health care for priority cases, such as Basic Emergency Obstetric care and Newborn Care (BEmONC) and Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) including supporting priority medical referrals from the borders and camp”. Nutrition Sub Working Group: No significant changes reported in the Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) and Supplementary Feeding Programme (SFP). The admission rate for SFP in Azraq camp reported higher compared to Za’atari camp and urban. Reproductive Health Sub Working Group (RHSWG): JICA’s project for Improvement of Services at Village Health Centers (VHCs) in Rural Host Communities of Syrian Refugees concluded. The project focused on the linkages between VHCs and communities. The RH working group has done review session for this model project for lesson learnt and results related to changing people’s attitude towards Reproductive Health /Family Planning practices and healthy life style. Zaatari Camp: - Community Health Programme activities handed over to Save the Children Jordan. - The second screening phase of the school health program including physical examinations for all student at first, third and fifth grades has been completed successfully. Azraq Camp: • Number of consultations reported higher by 15% compared to last month’s statistics, no changes on other statistical trends and remain stable for month of March. • An experiment was carried out under UNHCR Innovation Fellowship addressing the delays in medical emergency response by Civil Defense in the camp. Civil Defense respond to all call essentially and the main objective of the initiative is to enable Civil Defense prioritize cases and dispatch the ambulance accordingly. A second experiment will take place soon after adjusting for any main issues faced. Although analysis has not been completed yet, positive feedback from Civil Defense was reported. Berm Situation: Significant increase in number of patient accessing UN joint clinic noted with daily average of 167 cases. 4,346 patients accessed the clinic on March while 27 cases referred for treatment at Jordan hospitals. Malnutrition rate was stable at 3% among PLWs and at 1.8 among children under 5 years old. 24/7 health services operating plan established, resources allocated and communication made with MOFA and MOH for final clearance.

To date, a total of 3,053 Congolese refugees (1,078 households) have been relocated to Mantapala Refugee Settlement from Kenani Transit Centre. The most recent convoy was on Saturday 7 April 2018, with 303 individuals. The Government, through COR, has been leading the relocation exercises since they began earlier this year. As of now, all pregnant women and the chronically ill are not allowed to relocate due to the limited health services available in Mantapala Refugee Settlement and the harsh terrains that have to be crossed to get to the settlement. The poor state of the road between Nchelenge and Mantapala Refugee Settlement continues to be of concern to all stakeholders.

CLOSURE OF JODA BORDER ENTRY POINT IN WHITE NILE – The Joda entry point has been closed since 28 March, with reasons for the closure still unclear. This has halted the crossing of South Sudanese people from the northern Upper Nile region in South Sudan. Reports indicate that “many” people are stranded on the other side intending to cross into Sudan. UNHCR is preparing a contingency plan for Joda to manage a higher arrival figure if/when Joda re-opens. Two other border entry points at El Megenis and Kuek remain open and continue to receive new arrivals.

On 28 March 2018 the second Tripartite Commission Meeting was held in Bujumbura, Burundi. UNHCR continues assisting returns of Burundian refugees from Tanzania who are voluntarily choosing to go to their areas of origin.

UNHCR and the Government of Bangladesh in Geneva finalised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to voluntary returns of Rohingya refugees once conditions in Myanmar are conducive.

In March, the Basic Needs Working Group provided around 3,757,926 US$ worth of regular cash, winterization assistances and non-food item (NFIs) to vulnerable beneficiaries from the refugee and host Community.

In February, the Jordanian Government increased taxes and removed subsidies on basic commodities such as bread. To ensure beneficiaries maintain the same level of purchasing power to meet their basic food needs, WFP will increase the assistance to Syrian refugees living in host communities as of April 2018. For extremely vulnerable cases, the increase will be from 20 JD to 23 JD, while for vulnerable cases the current assistance of 10 JD will be increased to 15 JD. The relatively higher increase for vulnerable cases is due to the outcomes of WFP food security monitoring exercise, which has shown a trend since 2016 for the group of vulnerable cases to be most food insecure, as compared to extremely vulnerable and non-assisted cases.

WASH: In March, WASH services were provided to 119,156 Syrian refugees, including 67,460 children, living in Azraq, Zaatari, and King Abdulla camps and host communities.