More than 200,000 Burundian refugees have been assisted by UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency, to return voluntarily from neighbouring countries since 2017. Wrapping up a two-day visit to the country, Grandi also expressed appreciation to President Evariste Ndayishime for Burundi’s efforts towards stabilization. “We live in a world with only a few windows to pursue solutions for displacement. Too often, conflicts last for many years, but I am encouraged to see Burundian refugees making the choice to return after years in exile. We all need to work to ensure that their repatriation is sustainable,” said Grandi. “The efforts from the Government of Burundi and partners to assist Burundian refugees returning home are encouraging.” Grandi visited the Rugombo area, where he met some of those who have recently returned and witnessed UNHCR’s and partners’ support for returnees as they rebuild their lives. Assistance includes transportation, food, a cash grant, and household items when they return to Burundi. Given the magnitude of the needs, UNHCR has decided to strengthen its support to returnees. “However, we need development actors to help improve access to services and livelihoods in the communities where they are returning, which also need support. These are citizens of Burundi that need to be integrated into national development plans and initiatives,” Grandi added. Burundi is also generously hosting 80,000 Congolese refugees. Grandi visited Cishemere transit center, in the northwest of the country bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where he met refugees fleeing brutal violence and attacks in Eastern DRC. From Burundi, Grandi flew to Dodoma, Tanzania to meet President Samia Suluhu Hassan. Among the issues discussed was the progress made in creating conditions in Burundi more conducive for refugee return. Grandi also welcomed Tanzania’s long tradition of welcoming refugees and advocated for continued efforts to address the needs of those fleeing conflict. Nearly 248,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from Burundi and the DRC, live in Tanzania. The country hosts the largest number of Burundian refugees globally. “Our teams will continue to work closely with the two Governments, partners, and donors, including development actors, to protect and find solutions for those displaced,” said Grandi. In this context, UNHCR welcomes the recent announcement by the European Union to generously provide €40 million over the coming years to multiple partners supporting solutions in Burundi. The funding will ensure Burundian refugees in the region, as well as those who have returned home, have the support they need to live in safety and dignity. Assistance will include support for protection and resilience, legal assistance, gender-based violence prevention and response, literacy, and agricultural activities. For more information on this topic, please contact: Chadi Oanes, ouanes@unhcr.org , +255 755 314 549 Goodness Mrema, mremag@unhcr.org +255 714 058 749

International partners have set out how they would support countries in delivering on those plans, which were issued at the first ministerial meeting of the Global Alliance to end AIDS in children. The meeting hosted by the United Republic of Tanzania, marks a step up in action to ensure that all children with HIV have access to life saving treatment and that mothers living with HIV have babies free from HIV. The Alliance will work to drive progress over the next seven years, to ensure that the 2030 target is met. Currently, around the world, a child dies from AIDS related causes every five minutes. Only half (52%) of children living with HIV are on life-saving treatment, far behind adults of whom three quarters (76%) are receiving antiretrovirals. In 2021,160 000 children newly acquired HIV. Children accounted for 15% of all AIDS-related deaths, despite the fact that only 4% of the total number of people living with HIV are children. In partnership with networks of people living with HIV and community leaders, ministers laid out their action plans to help find and provide testing to more pregnant women and link them to care. The plans also involve finding and caring for infants and children living with HIV. The Dar-es-Salaam Declaration on ending AIDS in children was endorsed unanimously. Vice-President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Philip Mpango said, “Tanzania has showed its political engagement, now we need to commit moving forward as a collective whole. All of us in our capacities must have a role to play to end AIDS in children. The Global Alliance is the right direction, and we must not remain complacent. 2030 is at our doorstep.” The First Lady of Namibia Monica Geingos agreed. “This gathering of leaders is uniting in a solemn vow – and a clear plan of action – to end AIDS in children once and for all,” she said. “There is no higher priority than this.” Twelve countries with high HIV burdens have joined the alliance in the first phase: Angola, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The work will centre on four pillars across: 1. Early testing and optimal treatment and care for infants, children, and adolescents; 2. Closing the treatment gap for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV, to eliminate vertical transmission; 3. Preventing new HIV infections among pregnant and breastfeeding adolescent girls and women; and 2 4. Addressing rights, gender equality and the social and structural barriers that hinder access to services. UNICEF welcomed the leaders’ commitments and pledged their support. "Every child has the right to a healthy and hopeful future, but for more than half of children living with HIV, that future is threatened," said UNICEF Associate Director Anurita Bains. "We cannot let children continue to be left behind in the global response to HIV and AIDS. Governments and partners can count on UNICEF to be there every step of the way. This includes work to integrate HIV services into primary health care and strengthen the capacity of local health systems." “This meeting has given me hope,” said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “An inequality that breaks my heart is that against children living with HIV, and leaders today have set out their commitment to the determined action needed to put it right. As the leaders noted, with the science that we have today, no baby needs to be born with HIV or get infected during breastfeeding, and no child living with HIV needs to be without treatment. The leaders were clear: they will close the treatment gap for children to save children’s lives.” WHO set out its commitment to health for all, leaving no children in need of HIV treatment behind. “More than 40 years since AIDS first emerged, we have come a long way in preventing infections among children and increasing access to treatment, but progress has stalled,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The Global Alliance to End AIDS in Children is a much-needed initiative to reinvigorate progress. WHO is committed to supporting countries with the technical leadership and policy implementation to realise our shared vision of ending AIDS in children by 2030.” Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund said, “In 2023, no child should be born with HIV, and no child should die from an AIDS-related illness. Let’s seize this opportunity to work in partnership to make sure the action plans endorsed today are translated into concrete steps and implemented at scale. Together, led by communities most affected by HIV, we know we can achieve remarkable results.” PEPFAR’s John Nkengasong, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, said he remains confident. "Closing the gap for children will require laser focus and a steadfast commitment to hold ourselves, governments, and all partners accountable for results. In partnership with the Global Alliance, PEPFAR commits to elevate the HIV/AIDS children's agenda to the highest political level within and across countries to mobilize the necessary support needed to address rights, gender equality and the social and structural barriers that hinder access to prevention and treatment services for children and their families." EGPAF President and CEO, Chip Lyons, said that the plans shared, if implemented, would mean children were no longer left behind. “Often, services for children are set aside when budgets are tight or other challenges stand in the way. Today, African leaders endorsed detailed plans to end AIDS in children – now is the time for us all to commit to speaking up for children so that they are both prioritized and included in the HIV response.” Delegates emphasized the importance of a grounds-up approach with local, national and regional stakeholders taking ownership of the initiative, and engagement of a broad set of partners. “We have helped shape the Global Alliance and have ensured that human rights, community engagement and gender equality are pillars of the Alliance,” said Lilian Mworeko, Executive 3 Director of the International Community of Women living with HIV in Eastern Africa on behalf of ICW, Y+ Global and GNP+. “We believe a women-led response is key to ending AIDS in children.” The alliance has engaged support from Africa REACH and other diverse partners and welcomes all countries to join. Progress is possible. Sixteen countries and territories have already been certified for validation of eliminating vertical transmission of HIV and/or syphilis; while HIV and other infections can pass from a mother to child during pregnancy or while breastfeeding, such transmission can be interrupted with prompt HIV treatment for pregnant women living with HIV or pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for mothers at risk of HIV infection. . Last year Botswana was the first African country with high HIV prevalence to be validated as being on the path to eliminating vertical transmission of HIV, which means the country had fewer than 500 new HIV infections among babies per 100 000 births. The vertical transmission rate in the country was 2% versus 10% a decade ago. UNAIDS, networks of people living with HIV, UNICEF and WHO together with technical partners, PEPFAR and The Global Fund unveiled the Global Alliance to end AIDS in children in July 2022 at the AIDS conference in Montreal, Canada. Now, at its first ministerial meeting, African leaders have set out how the Alliance will deliver on the promise to end AIDS in children by 2030. [END] Contact UNAIDS | Charlotte Sector | sectorc@unaids.org The Global Fund | Ann Vaessen | ann.vaessen@theglobalfund.org UNICEF | Lazeena Muna-Mcquay | lmunamcquay@unicef.org WHO | Sonali Reddy | reddys@who.in

On 6 December 2022, UNHCR, in collaboration with its partner, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), organized a ceremony in Dar es Salaam with the participation of high-level officials, including a Representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy, and UNHCR's Deputy Representative. This celebration followed the 30th-anniversary commemoration launched at the University of Iringa in July 2022 with an introductory seminar on refugee rights and international refugee protection. At the end of the said ceremony, DAFI students, participants, and the University's management planted more than thirty trees around the higher education structure. In addition, other commemorations were held at refugee camps in Nduta and Nyarugusu in Kigoma region. As a reminder, the DAFI Scholarship Programme is an academic initiative implemented by UNHCR with financial support from Germany, enabling young refugees to pursue higher education. More specifically, it offers qualified refugee students the possibility to earn an undergraduate degree in hard science, social sciences, humanities, and arts in their countries of asylum. In Tanzania, the programme was launched in 1994, and, to date, more than 460 refugees benefited from the scholarship, allowing them to access local universities. These include the University of Iringa, the University of Dodoma, the Institute of Finance and Management, and the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences of Dar es Salaam. "The DAFI Scholarship Programme is the unique opportunity for refugee students to pursue their studies at the tertiary level in Tanzania," said Mr. Yanik Yankeu, Education Officer at UNHCR Tanzania. For UNHCR, such initiatives benefit students and allow them to positively contribute to their host communities or their country of origin after voluntarily repatriating. "If we give education to refugees, we are contributing to solving problems that lead to turmoil which results in many people being driven away from home." So said UNHCR's Deputy Representative, Mr. George Kuchio, in his opening remarks. As of 30 June 2022, a date marking the end of an academic year, 81,605 refugee children out of 95,028 school-age children were enrolled in 56 camp-based schools. This increase is attributed to administering of examinations to 7,143 candidates, including 5,581 from the Democratic Republic of Congo and 1,562 from Burundi, for the 2021 and 2022 cohorts, respectively. Moreover, during the ceremony, Ms. Amina Ismail Haji, a Computer Science student and one of the DAFI refugee beneficiaries, spoke on behalf of the scholarship recipients in Tanzania. She thanked the Government of Tanzania for the protection and for granting permission to exit the camp to pursue education at different levels of study. However, she expressed some challenges refugee students face, like “permit delays” and “living costs”. Currently, less than 1% of refugee students have access to tertiary education in Tanzania. This figure could be explained by, among various factors, the lack of mainstreaming refugee education into the national education system, high examination costs, financial constraints, and language barriers. "I call for more collective efforts and investment in higher education for refugees to help transform their lives and prospects. These efforts would ensure we reach the global '15by30' goal, aiming to increase enrolment in higher education of young refugee women and men to 15% by 2030," added Yankeu, UNHCR's Education Officer.   FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Chadi Ouanes, External Relations Officer Dar es Salaam +255 755 314 549 ouanes@unhcr.org   Goodness Mrema, Communications Associate Dar es Salaam +255 714 058 749 mremag@unhcr.org   Winnie Kweka, Communications Associate Kigoma +255 767 524 047 kwekaw@unhcr.org   Maimuna Mtengela, Communications Associate Kasulu +255 0768 352 550 mtengela@unhcr.org Weblinks Website for UNHCR in Tanzania Twitter @UNHCRTanzania

Mr. Ted Chaiban, the Global Lead Coordinator for COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP), is in Tanzania for an official four-day visit. A key part of his visit took place yesterday where he met with Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E.  Philip Isdor Mpango to discuss strategies to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Tanzania and meet its vaccination coverage goals. Mr. Chaiban has also been meeting with other high-level Government officials, development partners, communities, religious leaders and other key stakeholders during his visit. “I congratulate the Government for their efforts in promoting vaccination against COVID-19. I am here to take stock of where Tanzania is in meeting its vaccination coverage objectives and identify a way forward to address any bottlenecks and scale-up the vaccination programme,” said Mr. Chaiban. He was speaking alongside the Minister of Health, Hon. Ummy Mwalimu following a joint meeting between the two of them, the Minister of Finance and Planning, and the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governance). Mr. Chaiban stressed that the pandemic is far from over and that the risk of new variants, especially in under-vaccinated populations, remains high. “COVID-19 is still with us and we need to ensure that we protect those most at risk including the elderly, people with underlying conditions, frontline health workers and those working in sectors such as tourism and hospitality. The vaccine is our best protection against COVID-19. No one is safe until we are all safe. As they say in Kiswahili: ‘Ni ujanja kuchanja’! Mr. Chaiban was appointed as CoVDP Global Lead Coordinator, at the level of Assistant Secretary-General, in February 2022 by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. ###       Note to editors: COVID-19 Vaccination Update
As of early July 2022, almost 12 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered globally. According to the WHO, 61 per cent of the world population have been fully vaccinated butonly 13 per cent in low-income countries. The WHO Africa and Eastern Mediterranean regions account for the largest proportion of unvaccinated for the total population. In Tanzania, the COVID-19 vaccination programme started on 28 July 2021. About 10 million Tanzanians have received at least one dose and 8,553,930 (13.96%) have been fully vaccinated  to date. About Ted Chaiban
Ted Chaiban has a long and illustrious career with UNICEF. He has been Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa since October 2019. Prior to this role, he was UNICEF Director of Programmes (2014-2019), Director of Emergency Programmes (2012-2014), UNICEF Representative in Ethiopia (2009-2012) in Sudan (2005-2009) Sri Lanka (2002-2005). Read his full bio here.  About COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP)
The COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery Partnership (CoVDP) is an inter-agency initiative launched by UNICEF, WHO and Gavi in January 2022 to support the 92 AMC countries in accelerating vaccine delivery with a particular focus on the 34 countries, including Tanzania, that were at or below 10 per cent in January 2022.