With a Cabinet decision- that falls under the National Empowerment and Employment Program (NEEP)- the GoJ excluded Syrians from the reduction of foreign workers in the manufacturing sector. GoJ once again extended the grace period for work permits to be issued to Syrian workers for free until 31 December 2018.

• WHO and MOH launched the National Mental Health and Substance Use Action Plan (2018-2021), the launching event took place in 17th April and was under the patronage of HRH Princess Muna Al Hussein.

In April, 491,000 Syrian refugees residing in camps and host communities received monthly cash based transfers. Following an increase of WFP’s assistance, in response increases in tax on food commodities and the removal of a long-standing subsidy on bread, around 109,000 refugees residing in camps and 207,000 extremely vulnerable refugees living in communities received JOD 23 per person per month, while 175,000 refugees categorized as vulnerable received JOD 15 per person per month.

In April, the Basic Needs Working Group provided around 5,496,248 US$ worth of regular cash, winterization assistances and non-food item (NFIs) to vulnerable beneficiaries from the refugee and host Community

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.

The work permit/exit system in Azraq still facing technical challenges due to lack of internet at exit gate.

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.

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.

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.

1,750 applicants were approved and cleared for exit by SRAD-Azraq Camp. Work permits system will be updated accordingly and they are eligible to leave the camp using their work permits; 503 applicants waiting the SRAD-Azraq Camp feedback and an additional list of 1,023 is pending with SRAD.