The United Kingdom announced Sunday that it would provide an additional £100 million to support the millions of Syrian refugees displaced by the ongoing civil war. From the Guardian:
The package – intended to assist refugees and the communities hosting them in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq – was announced by the international development secretary, Justine Greening, as she visited Jordan with the Prince of Wales on Sunday.
It brings the total committed by the UK to the Syrian crisis to £800m – Britain’s largest ever response to a humanitarian emergency.
As well as aiming to ease the burdens shouldered by Syria’s neighbours, the extra money will be used to provide food, medical care and relief items to some of the 3.8 million Syrians who have fled their homeland.
Greening, who visited a Unicef youth centre, a World Food Programme supermarket and a school in Za’atari village, said the money was proof of the UK’s commitment to helping Syrian refugees and those looking after them.
“The £100m will go towards directly supporting refugees but also to continuing our support for the so-called host communities that have been really badly affected by the crisis,” she said. “Some towns and villages have literally doubled in population so we’ve done a lot of work with governments both in Jordan and Lebanon to help the host communities cope with this influx of refugees that they’ve had to deal with.”
Greening said her visit was also intended to underline Britain’s solidarity with Jordan following the “appalling” murder of Lieut Muadh al-Kasasbeh, the Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by his Islamic State captors .
While in Jordan, she also announced a £4.7m programme with Care International to help more than 35,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan.
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Global Health and Development Beat
Ugandan activists believe the recruitment of skilled health workers by wealthier countries violates the right to health and puts Ugandan lives in jeopardy by depleting the country of much-needed personnel, says Human Rights Watch.
The Indian government is undertaking two major campaigns in the span of one month to protest hundreds of millions of Indians against soil-transmitted helmins and lymphatic filariasis – or worms and elephantiasis, respectively.
Stakeholders in the health sector are concerned over the limited number of health workers in Zimbabwe which is threatening the health delivery system and in particular HIV-related issues.
UN climate negotiators gathered in Geneva were urged Sunday to show urgency and compromise in crafting a draft by next week for a global pact to be signed in December.
Three members of the Sudanese Red Cross were killed Sunday in an attack in the war-torn Blue Nile area, where Khartoum is currently battling rebels, officials said.
Authorities fighting Ebola must do more to tackle a high death rate among young children whose isolation from parents also causes great distress and deprives them of the extra care they need, the WHO said.
Two Liberian counties are faced with renewed threat from the Ebola Virus due to two separate cases that recently entered the two counties from Montserrado, reports the New Dawn.
Angelique Kidjo, one of the biggest African musicians on the world stage, on Sunday won her second Grammy for World Music album for “Eve,” a tribute to the continent’s women.
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Buzzing in the Blogs
The Guardian looks at the parts of Africa where measles vaccine coverage is better than parts of the United States. An excerpt:
The GGA survey indicates that some African countries are now achieving near 100% vaccination rates, up by 39% since 2000.
GGA, a research and advocacy organisation based in South Africa, produces a collection of social, political and economic indicators from all 55 African countries, including information on the fight against measles from World HealthOrganisation (WHO).
The survey shows that 16 countries in Africa, including Tanzania, Morocco, Libya, Mauritius, Eritrea, Gambia and Egypt have almost 100% vaccination rates, and five others – Zimbabwe, Algeria, Kenya, Botswana and Lesotho, have higher rates than the US.
This recent progress is part of Africa’s bigger measles success story.
In 2000, WHO reported that 60% of the 777,000 measles deaths worldwide occurred in occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. With improved communication, social mobilisation, counselling and funding, however, measles deaths were reduced by 91% by 2007. At the time, WHO’s director general of health, Margaret Chan, described the trend as “a major public health success and a tribute to the dedication of the countries in the African region.”
That said, in 2000 an estimated 600 African children died from measles every day. Despite improved vaccination rates, the figure still stands at 400 a day, according to GGA’s researcher, Kate Van Niekerk.
Africa still suffers with poor health systems as demonstrated by the Ebola outbreak, and the UN reports that most countries in sub-Saharan Africa will not meet the millennium development goals, including those on reducing child and maternal mortality.
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Capital Events
Monday
10:00 AM – The Gavi Experience with Country Graduation: Overcoming Challenges to Sustainable Financing – R4D
2:00 PM – Brazil and the Shaping of a Cooperative Multipolar Order – Brookings
Tuesday
8:30 AM – The Changing Face of Aid – SID
8:30 AM – Digital Development Principle 6 Meeting on Open ICT4D – NDI
5:00 PM – Global Economic Development: What the Trends Portend – Georgetown
Wednesday
1:00 PM – Nigeria Decides 2015 – USIP
3:00 PM – Measuring the Learning Progress of All Children: A Citizen-led Assessment – CGD
Thursday
2:00 PM – religious Communities and Responses to Sexual Violence – Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs
Friday
10:00 AM – Revising Japan’s ODA Charter: Aiding National Security? – Brookings
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By Mark Leon Goldberg and Tom Murphy
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