Summary:
Tanzania has been the host to hundreds of thousands of Rwandese, Burundians and Congolese refugees in the past years. Currently there are about 63,000 refugees from DRC, in Nyarugusu camp. Tanzania Red Cross Society (TRCS) is providing comprehensive health services (preventive and curative) to the refugees in Nyarugusu camp and the host communities. The National Society has been running the camp based health facilities/clinics in Nyarugusu camp for over 10 years.
The Tanzania Red Cross Society local branches in Kigoma and Kagera are participating in the assessment of the situation on regular basis, and are in regular contact with the TRCS disaster management department at the national headquarters (NHQ), for situation updates. On 7 May, 2015, the Kigoma regional authority organized a visit to Kagunga village joined by representatives from UNHCR, Tanzania Red Cross and UNICEF, to assess the situation and needs of the asylum seekers. The team proposed urgent humanitarian interventions based on the situation in the areas of health, water and sanitation, human resources, security, transportation, registration of refugees and case finding (tracing/follow up of cases for medical treatment).TRCS staff and volunteers in Nyarugusu camp are assisting the arriving refugees by providing lifesaving interventions including; provision of first aid; conducting medical screening for all new arrivals (immunization, treatment of common communicable diseases, and screening for malnutrition) and provision of health education through the Health Information Teams (HIT), particularly on prevention of communicable diseases.
On May 26, 2015, a donor teleconference was held with PNS participation. The purpose of the call was to follow up on the initial teleconference held mid-May to share up to date information on the situation on Burundi Crisis and to respond to queries from potential partners who had expressed interest. During the call, partners confirmed their interest in supporting the appeal.
A review of the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) by sector is ongoing following the concluded FACT assessments and discussions between TRCS and partners. FACT has recommended increased activities in water and sanitation, health as well as in national capacity building. In view of the proposed new activities it is estimated that the appeal budget will also be increased. A revised aappeal is expected to be issued in the coming weeks.
The appeal is currently 22 percent funded with generous multilateral contributions received from Canadian Red Cross and Canadian Government, Netherlands Red Cross and Netherlands Government as well as Spanish Red Cross. Bilateral contributions towards the appeal have also been received from Austrian, Spanish and Swedish Red Cross societies.
IFRC, on behalf of Tanzania Red Cross Society, would like to extend thanks to all partners for their continued support.