September 19, 2014
A top United Nations humanitarian official says he will have to slash food rations to Syrian refugees 40 percent next month because of a lack of funds. From VOA:
John Ging of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tells Reuters news agency that this is devastating news for the four million Syrians who depend on aid.
Ging said the cut will mean more Syrians will go hungry this winter and will also lack other vital goods including water, clothing, shelter material, and sanitation supplies.
A World Food Program official told a meeting in Geneva Wednesday that by November, a food package for needy Syrians could be reduced to just 825 calories a day – less than half the daily recommended amount.
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Global Health and Development Beat
A French volunteer working in Liberia for MSF at the ELWA-3 Ebola Treatment facility in Monrovia has contracted the Ebola virus, the medical charity said in a statement.
Nearly three million Syrian children are not attending school due to the war raging in their country, an international charity group said Thursday.
Commitments to protect Syrian women and girls from sexual abuse, exploitation and early marriage have not been backed by practical action, which has had devastating consequences, according to a report.
Latin America and the Caribbean, the world’s most unequal region, has made the greatest progress towards improving food security and has become the region with the largest number of countries to have reached the first Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of undernourished people.
A wireless sensor that sends text message alerts to healthcare workers could help better protect temperature-sensitive vaccines and provide crucial data on storage, transport and distribution infrastructures in developing nations, following a successful pilot in Kenya.
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone could receive an additional $127 million from the International Monetary Fund to help them deal with the worst-ever outbreak of the Ebola virus, the IMF said.
Sweden plans to announce at the UN climate summit next week funding of around $14 million for a new body that will provide grants and expertise to help indigenous peoples and forest communities secure rights to their land.
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Buzzing in the Blogs
USAID’s Nancy Lindborg takes to the Impact blog to discuss the massive response to the Ebola crisis that was announced this week by the US. An excerpt:
Our goal is to enable the most effective international response possible, using our government-wide capabilities to fight the epidemic on a regional basis. Our current efforts have focused on controlling the spread of the disease—bringing in labs for specimen testing; supporting the construction and management of Ebola treatment units; airlifting critical relief supplies; strengthening emergency response systems of the affected governments; supporting burial teams who are safely managing human remains to prevent transmission; and spearheading mass public awareness campaigns with communities to describe how to prevent, detect, and treat Ebola.
To complement these efforts, the President also announced the launch of the USAID-led Community Care Campaign, which will aim to provide every family and every community the critical information and basic items that can help protect them from this deadly virus. Information will stress the importance of sick families members seeking help at a clinic or Ebola treatment unit and how to exercise basic infection control that can be life-saving, such as washing hands or not washing their dead relatives. Items like soap and chlorine can reduce transmission. Women are especially important to reach given their traditional role in washing the bodies of dead relatives — a prime transmission route of the virus. To reach people with low literacy, the campaign will train health volunteers and community leaders on how best to verbally provide messages to their neighbors.
Partnering with the affected countries, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, and organizations on the ground, USAID will initially target 400,000 of the highest risk households in Liberia with this vital training and important tools.
The campaign is also rooted in a sobering reality. Half of all people who get sick don’t seek treatment at hospitals or Ebola treatment units. Many are frightened by rumors and deterred from traveling to hospitals where their friends and neighbors are taken and never return. A complex array of traditional beliefs and practices mean many of those who should seek help choose to stay in their homes – often putting those family members who care for them at risk.
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Capital Events
Friday
12:15 PM – Social Origins of Dictatorships: Elite Networks and Political Transitions in Haiti – CGD
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By Mark Leon Goldberg and Tom Murphy
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