US donates $1.5m to UNICEF for refugee work

The US government has given the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) a US $1.5-million grant for humanitarian work in Tanzania, the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam announced on Thursday. UNICEF will spend the money on programmes in refugee camps in western Tanzania, where an estimated 400,000 people - who have fled conflicts in neighbouring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo - are living. In a statement, the US Embassy said $1 million would be spent on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and the remaining $500,000 would be used to support refugee education. With the funding, UNICEF would be able to continue supporting 135,000 primary school pupils in the camps, the embassy said. Moreover, the money would help UNICEF to continue providing HIV testing, counselling and treatment to an estimated 10,000 pregnant women in each of the refugee camps. Meanwhile, in an effort to reduce disparity between services provided to local Tanzanians and the refugees, four refugee-affected districts in Kigoma and Kagera region would also benefit from the US funding of similar education and HIV/AIDS initiatives, the embassy said.