HIGHLIGHTS- FEBRUARY 2018
• The new academic school year began in January. Of the 1,090 Burundian refugee students that undertook examinations in Primary Level, 83.1 per cent passed. Of the 772 students at Secondary Level, 71 per cent passed.
• More than 5,700 Burundian refugee children in 0-6 years are receiving early childhood care through different approaches.
• Following a six month health promotion campaign, there has been significant improvement of the behaviour on handwashing with soap at critical times reducing the risk of waterborne diseases among Burundian refugees
Situation overview and humanitarian needs
As per UNHCR statistics from 31 January 2018, there are 173,419 refugees and asylum seekers in Rwanda. Of this, 89,171 are Burundian refugees, 75,019 are Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) refugees, 8,727 are asylum seekers from DRC and 502 are other refugees. Two refugee camps for DRC refugees were established in 1996, 1997 and the other three camps in 2005, 2012 and 2014. UNICEF handed over the DRC refugee response responsibility to UNHCR in 2012. However, as an additional 10,000 DRC refugees are expected in 2018, UNICEF Rwanda has started contingency planning and prepositioning of supplies. For the Burundian refugees, a new transit centre in Nyarushishi was opened in 2017, which did not receive any new arrivals. Mahama Camp currently hosts 56,738 Burundian refugees, while the three reception centres (Bugesera, Nyanza and Gatore) have 618 Burundian refugees. In addition, there are 33,798 Burundian refugees in the urban areas of Kigali and Huye. Specific needs of 19,952 refugees include serious medical conditions of 21.2 per cent, refugees with disabilities at 19.3 per cent and unaccompanied and separated (UASC) children at 13.7 per cent (UNHCR, 31 January 2018).