Globalization and Health
[Accessed 22 February 2014]
http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/

Short report
Regional variation in the allocation of development assistance for health
Michael Hanlon, Casey M Graves, Benjamin PC Brooks, Annie Haakenstad, Rouselle Lavado, Katherine Leach-Kemon and Joseph L Dieleman
Author Affiliations
Globalization and Health 2014, 10:8  doi:10.1186/1744-8603-10-8
Published: 20 February 2014
http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/10/1/8/abstract

Abstract (provisional)
Background
The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 Study has published disability-adjusted life year (DALY) data at both regional and country levels from 1990 to 2010. Concurrently, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has published estimates of development assistance for health (DAH) at the country-disease level for this same period of time.

Finding
We use disease burden data from the GBD 2010 study and financing data from IHME to calculate ratios of DAH to DALYs across regions and diseases. We examine the magnitude of these ratios and how they have varied over time. We hypothesize that the variation in this ratio across regions would be relatively small. However, from 2006 to 2010, we find there was considerable variation in the levels of DAH per DALY across regions. For total funding, the relative standard deviation (standard deviation as a percentage of the mean) across regions was 50%. For DAH specific to HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, the relative standard deviations were 50%, 200% and 60%, respectively. While these deviations are high, with the exception of malaria, they have decreased since the 1990s.

Conclusions
There are no evident explanations for so much variation in funding across regions, especially holding the purpose of the funding constant. This suggests donors’ allocation processes have not been particularly sensitive to disease burdens. To maximize health gains, donors should explicitly incorporate new disease burden data along with the relative costs and efficacy of interventions into their allocation process.

Global Health: Science and Practice (GHSP)
February 2014 | Volume 2 | Issue 1
http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/current

Meningococcal vaccine introduction in Mali through mass campaigns and its impact on the health system
Sandra Mounier-Jacka, Helen Elizabeth Denise Burchetta, Ulla Kou Griffithsa, Mamadou Konateb, Kassibo Sira Diarrab
Author Affiliations
aLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
bIndependent Consultant, Bamako, Mali
The meningococcal A vaccine campaign led to major disruption of routine vaccination services and reduced other services, notably antenatal care.
http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/2/1/117.abstract

Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the impact of the meningococcal A (MenA) vaccine introduction in Mali through mass campaigns on the routine immunization program and the wider health system.

Methods: We used a mixed-methods case-study design, combining semi-structured interviews with 31 key informants, a survey among 18 health facilities, and analysis of routine health facility data on number of routine vaccinations and antenatal consultations before, during, and after the MenA vaccine campaign in December 2010. Survey and interview data were collected at the national level and in 2 regions in July and August 2011, with additional interviews in January 2012.

Findings: Many health system functions were not affected—either positively or negatively—by the MenA vaccine introduction. The majority of effects were felt on the immunization program. Benefits included strengthened communication and social mobilization, surveillance, and provider skills. Drawbacks included the interruption of routine vaccination services in the majority of health facilities surveyed (67%). The average daily number of children receiving routine vaccinations was 79% to 87% lower during the 10-day campaign period than during other periods of the month. Antenatal care consultations were also reduced during the campaign period by 10% to 15%. Key informants argued that, with an average of 14 campaigns per year, mass campaigns would have a substantial cumulative negative effect on routine health services. Many also argued that the MenA campaign missed potential opportunities for health systems strengthening because integration with other health services was lacking.

Conclusion: The MenA vaccine introduction interrupted routine vaccination and other health services. When introducing a new vaccine through a campaign, coverage of routine health services should be monitored alongside campaign vaccine coverage to highlight where and how long services are disrupted and to mitigate risks to routine services.

Journal of Community Health
Volume 39, Issue 1, February 2014
http://link.springer.com/journal/10900/39/1/page/1

Online First
Understanding HPV Vaccine Uptake Among Cambodian American Girls
Victoria M. Taylor, Nancy J. Burke, Linda K. Ko, Channdara Sos, Qi Liu, H. Hoai Do, Jocelyn Talbot, Yutaka Yasui, Roshan Bastani
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10900-014-9844-8

Abstract
Cervical cancer incidence rates vary substantially among racial/ethnic groups in the United States (US) with women of Southeast Asian descent having the highest rates. Up to 70 % of cervical cancers could be prevented by widespread use of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. However, there is a lack of information about HPV vaccine uptake among Southeast Asian girls in the US. We conducted a telephone survey of Cambodian women with daughters who were age-eligible for HPV vaccination. Survey items addressed HPV vaccination barriers, facilitators and uptake. Our study group included 86 Cambodian mothers who lived in the Seattle metropolitan area. The proportions of survey participants who reported their daughter had initiated and completed the HPV vaccine series were only 29 and 14 %, respectively. Higher levels of vaccine uptake were significantly associated with mothers having heard about the HPV vaccine from a health professional and having received a recent Pap test. Commonly cited barriers to HPV vaccination included lack of knowledge about the HPV vaccine, not having received a physician recommendation for HPV vaccination and thinking the HPV vaccine is unnecessary in the absence of health problems. Linguistically and culturally appropriate HPV educational programs should be developed and implemented in Cambodian American communities. These programs should aim to enhance understanding of disease prevention measures, increase knowledge about the HPV vaccine and empower women to ask their daughter’s doctors for HPV vaccination.

Nature   
Volume 506 Number 7488 pp265-402  20 February 2014
http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue.html

Nature | Column: World View
WHO plans for neglected diseases are wrong
Research and development into diseases affecting the world’s poorest people will not benefit from the agency’s policy, warns Mary Moran.
19 February 2014
http://www.nature.com/news/who-plans-for-neglected-diseases-are-wrong-1.14739

Excerpt
After more than a decade of trying to find a way to fund research on diseases that affect the developing world, the World Health Organization (WHO) made a decisive move last month when it announced its first pilot projects. As Nature reported (see Nature 505, 142; 2014), the WHO hopes that these projects will break the stalemate over research on neglected conditions such as kala-azar, a deadly parasitic disease that afflicts hundreds of thousands of the world’s poorest people.

The WHO is taking giant strides, but they are in the wrong direction. The projects are based on flawed logic and will waste time and money. Worse, this initiative could actively damage existing projects to develop such medicines. The WHO pilot should be stopped.

I do not make these claims lightly. I was involved in the WHO analysis, drafting and recommendations, and know how difficult it has been.

The pilot projects are the culmination of a ten-year negotiation that aimed to achieve two goals: to make commercial medicines more affordable for the developing world, and to stimulate public (non-profit) development of medicines for neglected diseases…

New England Journal of Medicine
February 20, 2014  Vol. 370 No. 8
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal

Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights
Informed Consent, Comparative Effectiveness, and Learning Health Care
Ruth R. Faden, Ph.D., M.P.H., Tom L. Beauchamp, Ph.D., and Nancy E. Kass, Sc.D.
N Engl J Med 2014; 370:766-768February 20, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMhle1313674
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMhle1313674
The authors argue that in a learning health care system with ethically robust oversight policies, a streamlined consent process could replace formal written informed-consent procedures for many studies, and patient consent would not be required at all for some trials.

Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights
Informed Consent for Pragmatic Trials — The Integrated Consent Model
Scott Y.H. Kim, M.D., Ph.D., and Franklin G. Miller, Ph.D.
N Engl J Med 2014; 370:769-772February 20, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMhle1312508
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMhle1312508
The authors argue that informed consent is ethically necessary in pragmatic trials that randomly assign individual patients to treatments, even when treatment options are within the standard of care. They propose integration of a streamlined consent process into routine practice

PNAS – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/
(Accessed 22 February 2014)

Distance to health services affects local-level vaccine efficacy for pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) among rural Filipino children
Elisabeth Dowling Roota,1, Marilla Lucerob, Hanna Nohynekc, Peter Anthamattend, Deborah S. K. Thomasd, Veronica Tallob, Antti Tanskanenc,e, Beatriz P. Quiambaob, Taneli Puumalainenf,
Socorro P. Lupisanb, Petri Ruutug, Erma Ladesmab, Gail M. Williamsh, Ian Rileyh, and Eric A. F. Simõesi
Author Affiliations
Edited by Burton H. Singer, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, and approved January 21, 2014 (received for review July 22, 2013)
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/02/13/1313748111.short

Significance
Although pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) are widely available in industrialized nations, the cost of these vaccines and the strategy of universal vaccination of infants, as endorsed by the World Health Organization, are daunting obstacles to the adoption of these vaccines in developing countries. Using spatial epidemiological methods to examine the spatial variation in vaccine efficacy (VE) in an 11-valent PCV trial in Bohol, Philippines, we suggest an alternative strategy to universal vaccination. Our main finding suggests that areas with poor access to healthcare have the highest VE. An alternative vaccination strategy could target vaccination to areas where children are most likely to benefit, rather than focus on nationwide immunization.

Abstract
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) have demonstrated efficacy against childhood pneumococcal disease in several regions globally. We demonstrate how spatial epidemiological analysis of a PCV trial can assist in developing vaccination strategies that target specific geographic subpopulations at greater risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind vaccine trial that examined the efficacy of an 11-valent PCV among children less than 2 y of age in Bohol, Philippines. Trial data were linked to the residential location of each participant using a geographic information system. We use spatial interpolation methods to create smoothed surface maps of vaccination rates and local-level vaccine efficacy across the study area. We then measure the relationship between distance to the main study hospital and local-level vaccine efficacy, controlling for ecological factors, using spatial autoregressive models with spatial autoregressive disturbances. We find a significant amount of spatial variation in vaccination rates across the study area. For the primary study endpoint vaccine efficacy increased with distance from the main study hospital from −14% for children living less than 1.5 km from Bohol Regional Hospital (BRH) to 55% for children living greater than 8.5 km from BRH. Spatial regression models indicated that after adjustment for ecological factors, distance to the main study hospital was positively related to vaccine efficacy, increasing at a rate of 4.5% per kilometer distance. Because areas with poor access to care have significantly higher VE, targeted vaccination of children in these areas might allow for a more effective implementation of global programs

Social Science & Medicine
Volume 106,   In Progress   (April 2014)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02779536/106

Challenges of health measurement in studies of health disparities
Review Article
Pages 143-150
Sarah A. Burgard, Patricia V. Chen

Abstract
Health disparities are increasingly studied in and across a growing array of societies. While novel contexts and comparisons are a promising development, this commentary highlights four challenges to finding appropriate and adequate health measures when making comparisons across groups within a society or across distinctive societies. These challenges affect the accuracy with which we characterize the degree of inequality, limiting possibilities for effectively targeting resources to improve health and reduce disparities. First, comparisons may be challenged by different distributions of disease and second, by variation in the availability and quality of vital events and census data often used to measure health. Third, the comparability of self-reported information about specific health conditions may vary across social groups or societies because of diagnosis bias or diagnosis avoidance. Fourth, self-reported overall health measures or measures of specific symptoms may not be comparable across groups if they use different reference groups or interpret questions or concepts differently. We explain specific issues that make up each type of challenge and show how they may lead to underestimates or inflation of estimated health disparities. We also discuss approaches that have been used to address them in prior research, note where further innovation is needed to solve lingering problems, and make recommendations for improving future research. Many of our examples are drawn from South Africa or the United States, societies characterized by substantial socioeconomic inequality across ethnic groups and wide disparities in many health outcomes, but the issues explored throughout apply to a wide variety of contexts and inquiries.

Stability: International Journal of Security & Development 
http://www.stabilityjournal.org/articles
[accessed 22 February 2014]

Understanding the nature and threats of drug trafficking to national and regional security in West Africa
Kwesi Aning, John Pokoo
http://www.stabilityjournal.org/article/view/sta.df

Abstract
Several West African states are threatened by increasingly powerful transnational organised criminal networks. Yet, scholarly work on the nature, characteristics and strength of these groups and how their activities threaten states remains sparse, leading to misunderstandings and inadequate appreciation of the precise nature of the threats they pose to West Africa. This paper seeks to fill these lacunae in our knowledge. It focuses on the nexus between drugs, crime and terrorism. It argues that, the financial spin-offs from criminal activities contribute to the development of opportunistic relationships between criminals and extremist groups that threatens West Africa’s fragile states. The analyses are based on evidence from several West African states, but employ the ongoing crisis in the Sahel, particularly Mali, as an empirical case, to demonstrate how ‘profitable collusion’ among different actors permits hollow states to become edifices that allows corruption, criminality and impunity to flourish.

From Google Scholar+
Selected content from beyond the journals and sources covered above, aggregated from a range of Google Scholar monitoring algorithms and other monitoring strategies.

Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development
2013, Volume : 8, Issue : 1
Development and Assessment of a Need Based and Interactive ICT Based Self Learning Tool for Livestock Owners
Tiwari Rupasi, Sharma M.C., Singh B.P.
Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly-243122, UP
Online published on 15 February, 2014.
http://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:jcmsd&volume=8&issue=1&article=009

Abstract
In recent years educational technology, empowered by multimedia and internet has opened a new vista for technology transfer. Multimedia enabled interactive educational systems have been able to cross the barriers of poor educational and socio-economic status for providing locale specific necessary information in various aspects. The present paper provides a detailed account of a new need based and interactive ICT based self-learning tool for the livestock owners in India, the “Pashudhan avum kukkut rog suchna pranali” (PAKRSP). For development of this learning tool, information needs of livestock owners of India was assessed by analyzing the secondary data of Kisan Call Centre situated at the Indian Veterinary research Institute (one of the nodes of a national facility for providing toll free tele consultancies to livestock owners). Based on the need assessment and prioritization an ICT based self-earning tool was designed using multimedia tools for the livestock owners of the country in Hindi language (Official language of India). The tool is fully equipped to cater to even the illiterate audience as it is backed with visuals, animations and voice backup. It is fully interactive and the learners have freedom to explore any part of the information provided, in any order. The field assessment of PAKRSP has also revealed that livestock owners have rated this learning tool very effective and interesting to enhance their knowledge and maintain interest. Further the study revealed that the livestock owners are ready to pay a sum of INR 50 to INR 2000 for purchasing the learning tool.

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Women Empowerment through Self Employment in Dairying Activities: Motivating Factors and Constraints
Shukla Chhaya1, Dayal Rekha2,  Poonam1
1Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, G.B.P.U.A. & T., Pantnagar
2Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, C.S.A.U.A. & T., Kanpur
Online published on 15 February, 2014.

Abstract
Motivation in general is an important determinant of entrepreneurial growth through self-employment. Motivators related to initiation, growth and development of enterprise run by rural women can be categorized as work, social, personal and economic core. Pertaining to work core, “to get complete satisfaction of being productive member of family” was found the as the major motivating factor. The analysis pertaining to social core revealed that “Want to be an economically independent person” emerged as first motive that accelerated women for self-employment. Among individual core motives, it was found that women started their enterprise because they wanted to utilize their available time” followed by “Want to provide comfortable life to family members”. Want to save for marriage of children and for education of the children were found to be the main economic core motives for starting their own enterprise by rural women entrepreneurs. The self-motivation has always been a dominating source because women even in ordinary families have started feeling an increased financial burden, great awareness towards their potentialities, standard of living and better education of their children etc. Most of the respondents were morally boosted by their spouses. Relatives and friend also played a significant role in encouraging them morally. Lack of knowledge about agencies/institutions working for women entrepreneurs was reported to be the major constraint by all the women entrepreneurs. Lack of information about governmental schemes for women entrepreneurs and lack of knowledge regarding machinery and equipment to be used in dairying were the major financial and resource constraints. Lack of social contacts, multiple responsibilities, and male dominance were the major socio – psychological constraints. The major technical constraint reported by all the women entrepreneurs was lack of technical know-how.

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Engagement of crisis-affected people in humanitarian action – BACKGROUND PAPER
ALNAP 29th Annual Meeting11-12 March 2014, Addis Ababa
Brown, D., Donini, A. and Knox Clarke, P.
Box 2: Inter-Agency Standing Committee commitments on accountability to affected populations

1. LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE: Demonstrate their commitment to accountability to affected populations by ensuring feedback and accountability mechanisms are integrated into country strategies, programme proposals, monitoring and evaluation, recruitment, staff inductions, trainings and performance management, and partnership agreements, and are highlighted in reporting.

2. TRANSPARENCY: Provide accessible and timely information to affected populations on organizational procedures, structures and processes that affect them to ensure that they can make informed decisions, and facilitate a dialogue between an organisation and its affected populations over information provision.

3. FEEDBACK AND COMPLAINTS: Actively seek the views of affected populations to improve policy and practice in programming, ensuring that feedback and complaint mechanisms are streamlined, appropriate and robust enough to deal with (communicate, receive, process, respond to and learn from) complaints about breaches in policy and stakeholder dissatisfaction.

4. PARTICIPATION: Enable affected populations to play an active role in the decision-making processes that affect them through the establishment of clear guidelines and practices to engage them appropriately and ensure that the most marginalised and affected are represented and have influence.

5. DESIGN, MONITORING AND EVALUATION: Design, monitor and evaluate the goals and objectives of programmes with the involvement of affected populations, feeding learning back into the organisation on an ongoing basis and reporting on the results of the process.
http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/pageloader.aspx?page=content-subsidi-common-default&sb=89

Health Policy and Planning
(2014) doi: 10.1093/heapol/czu001  First published online: February 14, 2014
‘One health’ and development priorities in resource-constrained countries: policy lessons from avian and pandemic influenza preparedness in Zambia
Kennedy Kapala Mwacalimba1,* and  Judith Green2
Author Affiliations
1Beit Scholar, Independent Health Researcher, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268, USA and 2Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, UK
Accepted January 5, 2014.
http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/02/14/heapol.czu001.abstract

Abstract
‘One World, One Health’ has become a key rallying theme for the integration of public health and animal health priorities, particularly in the governance of pandemic-scale zoonotic infectious disease threats. However, the policy challenges of integrating public health and animal health priorities in the context of trade and development issues remain relatively unexamined, and few studies to date have explored the implications of global disease governance for resource-constrained countries outside the main centres of zoonotic outbreaks. This article draws on a policy study of national level avian and pandemic influenza preparedness between 2005 and 2009 across the sectors of trade, health and agriculture in Zambia. We highlight the challenges of integrating disease control interventions amidst trade and developmental realities in resource-poor environments. One Health prioritizes disease risk mitigation, sidelining those trade and development narratives which speak to broader public health concerns. We show how locally important trade and development imperatives were marginalized in Zambia, limiting the effectiveness of pandemic preparedness. Our findings are likely to be generalizable to other resource-constrained countries, and suggest that effective disease governance requires alignment with trade and development sectors, as well as integration of veterinary and public health sectors.

Production and Operations Management, 2014
Introduction to the Special Issue on Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management
MK Starr, LN Wassenhove –
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/poms.12229/abstract

Abstract
The Genesis of this Special Issue came from the Board of the POMS College on Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management (HO&CM). It was seen as a necessary initiative to define the field and examine research opportunities. This Special Issue shows that humanitarian operations pose challenges for P/OM researchers and practitioners that differ markedly from those of conventional supply chains associated with profitable enterprises. Based on the eight articles in this Special Issue we have described and demonstrated the unique characteristics of the POM/HO&CM interaction. We have also identified those attributes that tend to overlap with conventional aspects of POM. In addition to wanting to be cost effective, the issue of equity fairness is pervasive in humanitarian operations, and so is the need to always base considerations on “last-mile logistics,” i.e., getting aid to those in most need. Research is essential to determine how to train researchers to scout out and map the territory of the real problems. One of the most vexing problems is the lack of robust data in the humanitarian domain which is as richly varied as the types of disasters that can occur

[PDF] Representative sampling in humanitarian evaluation
by Jessica Alexander and John Cosgrave
ALNAP Discussion Series Improving the quality of EHA evidence
Method Note 1 – February 2014
Evaluations are meant to provide trustworthy feedback on a program – for real-time evaluations this feedback is crucial to being able to make course corrections, for ex-post evaluations this feedback can demonstrate effectiveness and accountability to both donors and affected people, and inform future programs. As evaluation professionals, we aim to collect data that is representative of a population at a certain time, and which can be used to compare with other snapshots in time (for impact assessment or trend analysis). If the information is to be used for advocacy purposes, this is especially important as entire studies have been discounted because the sampling framework was not deemed to be representative.

The United States joined 26 countries, the WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in committing to the goals of the Global Health Security Agenda “to accelerate progress toward a world safe and secure from the threat of infectious disease.” Over the next five years the United States plans to work with at least 30 partner countries (containing at least 4 billion people) “to prevent, detect and effectively respond to infectious disease threats, whether naturally occurring or caused by accidental or intentional releases of dangerous pathogens.” Later this year, the White House will host an event bringing together nations who are committed to protecting the world from infectious disease threats to review progress and chart the way forward on building a global system for preventing, detecting, and responding to such threats. CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden commented, “The United States and the world can and must do more to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks as early and as effectively as possible. CDC conducted two global health security demonstration projects last year in partnership with Vietnam and Uganda to strengthen laboratory systems, develop strong public health emergency operations centers, and create real-time data sharing in health emergencies.  CDC is committed to replicate the successes in these two projects in ten additional countries this year.”

U.S. government departments including HHS, DoS, USDA, and DoD “will work closely with global partners to build countries’ global health security capacities in areas such as surveillance, detection and response in order to slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance, establish national biosecurity systems, reduce zoonotic disease transmission, increase routine immunization, establish and strengthen national infectious disease surveillance and laboratory systems, and develop public health electronic reporting systems and emergency operations centers.” Countries joining the United States to meet the Global Health Security goals at today’s launch were Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, and, Vietnam.
www.globalhealth.gov/global-health-topics/global-health-security/index.html.
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2014pres/02/20140213a.html

Report: Beyond 2014 Global Report
ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development)
235 pages

Excerpt from launch announcement
The ICPD Beyond 2014 Global Report is the culmination of a landmark UN review of progress, gaps, challenges and emerging issues in relation to the ICPD Programme of Action. It gathers data from 176 member states, alongside inputs from civil society and comprehensive academic research.
The report highlights the fact that development gains from the past 20 years cannot be sustained unless governments tackle the inequalities that hurt the poorest and most marginalized.

It also finds that growing inequalities will undo significant gains in health and longevity made over the past 20 years. To sustain these gains, the report argues that governments must pass and enforce laws to protect the poorest and most marginalized, including adolescent girls and women affected by violence as well as rural populations. The document also underlines that the number of people living in extreme poverty in developing countries has fallen dramatically from 47 per cent in 1990 to 22 per cent in 2010 but many of the estimated 1 billion people living in the 50-60 poorest countries will stagnate as the rest of the world gets richer. “Nearly 1 billion people have escaped extreme poverty. Child and maternal mortality have been cut by nearly one half. There are more laws to protect and uphold human rights,” said United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon. “But enormous inequalities remain in the realization of those rights and access to vital services.”

The report is the first truly global review of progress, gaps, challenges and emerging issues in relation to the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in Cairo in 1994. It gathers data from 176 countries alongside inputs from civil society and comprehensive academic research. The findings provide compelling evidence strongly reinforcing the ground-breaking focus of the Cairo Programme of Action, placing human rights and individual dignity at the heart of development…

Excerpt from Executive Summary
“…Our greatest shared challenge is that our very accomplishments, reflected in ever greater human consumption and extraction of the earth’s resources, are increasingly inequitably distributed, threatening inclusive development, the environment and our common future.

The evidence of 2014 overwhelmingly supports the ICPD consensus that respect, protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights are necessary preconditions for improving the dignity and well-being of women and adolescent girls and for empowering them to exercise their reproductive rights; and that sexual and reproductive health and rights and understanding the implications of population dynamics are foundational to sustainable development. Safeguarding the rights of young people and investing in their quality education, decent employment opportunities, effective livelihood skills, and access to sexual and reproductive health and comprehensive sexuality education strengthen young people’s individual resilience and create the conditions under which they can achieve their full potential…”

Report: UN World Youth Report 2013 on youth migration
The United Nations 2013 World Youth Report offers a broad understanding of the situation of young migrants from the perspective of young migrants themselves. The report highlights some of the concerns, challenges and successes experienced by young migrants based on their own lives and told in their own voices. The report focuses largely on the phenomena of international migration which increasingly has a significant impact on the origin, transit and destination countries and communities. The consequences are complex, context-specific and subject to change over time. The Report has been drafted in an interactive manner, allowing you to navigate chapters individually: http://www.unworldyouthreport.org/

There are over 232 million migrants in the world today, and young people account for over 30% of this figure. Drawing on extensive participation by young migrants themselves, the Report provides a comprehensive guide to youth migration, drawing public attention to the complex and diverse experiences faced by young women and men as they leave their home communities and seek to start life again elsewhere.

The Report focuses on the complete cycle of migration, starting with pre-migratory planning, travelling to a destination country (often through transitory countries) and settling in a new society, as well as examining the identities of migrants and their reasons for leaving their home societies. It also assesses the information available to help young migrants, and the experiences of youth whose families have migrated without them, as well as encouraging the involvement of young people in national policy-making in order to improve the lives of young migrants and enhance their participation in their destination societies.

UNICEF said that together with the Government of Guinea and other NGO partners, it vaccinating over 1.7 million children in Guinea amid a continuing measles outbreak. Yesterday, the Ministry of Health announced that there are over 1,300 new suspected cases and five child deaths since the beginning of 2014. UNICEF Representative in Guinea Dr. Mohamed Ag Ayoya commented, “In Guinea, where three out of five children are not fully vaccinated, measles can have a devastating impact as it spreads quickly and kills children. UNICEF has worked quickly to provide expertise, vaccines and other materials and stands ready to support the Government in any way we can.”
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_71996.html

WHO: Humanitarian Health Action
http://www.who.int/hac/en/index.html

Medical supplies air-delivered to north-east Syria
WHO started to deliver medicines, vaccine and medical supplies to north-east Syria this week by chartered flights from the capital Damascus. WHO is providing medical supplies for more than 335,000 beneficiaries, including medicines for chronic and infectious diseases, skin diseases, as well as medical supplies needed to treat patients with injuries.
Read the story on medical supplies to north-east Syria

No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project
The project is “an effort led by Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Clinton Foundation to bring together partner organizations to evaluate and share the progress women and girls have made in the 20 years since the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. This new effort will help chart the path forward to accelerate full participation for women and girls in the 21st century. The full participation of women and girls is critical to global progress, development, and security.”

Hillary Clinton launches global data project on women and girls
Washington Post | 13 February 2014
“…With the 20th anniversary approaching of a historic 1995 women’s conference, the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation is partnering with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to gather and study data on the global progress of women and girls and the gaps that remain.

The “No Ceilings” project will aggregate data from traditional sources, such as the World Bank, as well as less traditional ones, such as Google, to document progress since the United Nations World Conference on Women in Beijing. Clinton addressed that conference as first lady, declaring “women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights.” The partnership was announced Thursday morning at New York University, where Chelsea Clinton moderated a discussion on women and girls with Hillary Clinton and Melinda Gates.

Calling women’s empowerment “one of the great causes of my life,” Clinton, who championed these issues as secretary of state, said the data project is critical to understanding how much work remains.

“We have seen progress, but we’ve also seen that there’s not an adequate base of information and evidence that we can draw conclusions from about how much progress has been made and what the gaps for action and decision making are,” Clinton said…

Commentary: Science for the Poor – Making Vaccines to Combat Poverty
Peter Hotez, M.D, Ph.D.
The Huffington Post | 11 February 2014

Is it possible to vaccinate against poverty?

According to the World Bank, an estimated 2.4 billion people live on less than $2 per day, while 1.2 billion live on less than $1.25 per day — a group often referred to as “the bottom billion”. We now know that almost all of the bottom billion and many of those living on less than $2 per day remain trapped in poverty because they are chronically debilitated by a group of afflictions known as the neglected tropical diseases, or ‘NTDs’.

NTDs are long-lasting parasitic and related infections such as ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis. The major point is that these NTDs can actually cause poverty either because they make people too sick to go to work and limit agricultural productivity, or because they strike children at vulnerable times, thereby stunting their physical and intellectual development.    NTDs also disproportionately affect pregnant women, making them ill and causing them to produce low birth weight or premature infants.

Beyond their staggering public health impact, the economic losses from NTDs are also impressive: our studies with collaborators at Johns Hopkins University show that Chagas disease results in more than $7 billion lost annually, mostly in the Western Hemisphere. There are similar data available for many other NTDs.

Remember, the NTDs are not rare conditions — virtually every single person living in extreme poverty is infected with at least one of these conditions.

Science can offer a lot to prevent these infections, thereby making poor people well enough to   go back to work, children healthy and intellectually vibrant, and improving pregnancy outcomes. One approach now underway is annual mass treatment with a package of essential medicines that targets several NTDs at once, and costs only 50 cents per person. Although not a true vaccine, the World Health Organization uses the term “preventive chemotherapy” to describe this approach because when used over a period of time, together with other supportive measures, it is actually leading to the elimination of lymphatic filariasis and trachoma, and in some cases even river blindness in dozens of impoverished countries. In collaboration with several international organizations we organized a Global Network for NTDs that is raising awareness about the opportunity for these low-cost preventive chemotherapy approaches.

For other NTDs, however, we need new technologies. In 2011 the Sabin Vaccine Institute allied with Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine to expand its development portfolio of new and novel vaccines to combat NTDs. The result is the expansion of a unique non-profit product development partnership that is located in Houston’s Texas Medical Center — a medical city of 100,000 people — to transition discoveries from the bench to the clinic and produce the next generation ‘antipoverty vaccines’, i.e. vaccines that would not only improve health but simultaneously also lift people out of poverty. For example, hookworm infection affects more than 400 million people in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, where it is a leading cause of anemia and childhood malnutrition, and has been shown to reduce future wage earnings. Our product development partnership, through activities led by Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, has developed, transitioned, and produced a prototype hookworm vaccine undergoing clinical trials in Brazil, and will soon undergo additional testing in Gabon through a so-called HOOKVAC consortium of European and African partners. We are also working to evaluate and modify the vaccine so it targets additional parasitic infections such as ascariasis and trichuriasis.
Finally, a new schistosomiasis vaccine is under development and will soon begin clinical trials.

Nor is poverty exclusive to developing countries or failed nations. Today, almost two million families in the United States live on less than $2 per day and poverty is rampant in southern states such as Texas and others along the Gulf Coast. We found that NTDs are also widespread among these impoverished Americans. For example 300,000 people in the United States suffer from Chagas disease, a cause of heart disease transmitted by kissing bugs — our group, which includes a consortium of Mexican institutions, is now working to develop one of the first Chagas disease vaccines for clinical trials.

Dr. Albert Sabin, whose name and legacy our Institute honors once said, “A scientist who is a human being cannot rest while knowledge which might reduce suffering rests on the shelf.” Our Sabin Vaccine Institute and Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development is one of six major international product development partnerships currently pioneering vaccine development in the non-profit sector. Together we are making the vaccines for diseases that affect millions if not billions but only those living in extreme poverty.

Almost thirty years ago I graduated from New York’s Rockefeller University, whose motto is Scientia pro bono humani generis – science for the benefit of humanity. Developing a new generation of antipoverty vaccines is a true expression of that concept.

Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also Professor of Pediatrics and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. Prof. Hotez is also the Fellow on Disease and Poverty at the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. He is the author of Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press).

AMREF  [to 16 February 2014]

AMREF USA ‏@AMREFUSA Feb 14
We are excited about a new #partnership with @philipshealth! http://bit.ly/1b2KBHW

AMREF USA ‏@AMREFUSA Feb 11
#Fistula is a mainstay of our surgical program. Devastating & preventable.Thx for sheding some light @NickKristof http://nyti.ms/1ogHP5e

AMREF UK ‏@AMREF_UK Feb 7
@AMREF_Worldwide surgical team in #Juba, South Sudan to help with influx of casualties http://www.amrefuk.org/homepage-items/item/358-amref-surgical-team-in-juba …

BRAC  [to 16 February 2014]

2.1 million free Internet Hours for School Children
10 February 2014, Dhaka. Grameenphone, in collaboration with BRAC, is going to provide 2.1 million free internet hours for school children. Inspired by Language Movement Day 21st February this programme will be starting this month.

This was announced today (February 10) in a programme arranged at Ali Hossain Girls High School, situated in West Dhanmondi. Under the initiative of “Internet for All” Grameenphone will provide 2.1 million free Internet hours to 250 schools around the country. Students of these schools will be able to use free internet in the Gonokendras, the multi-purpose community learning centres managed by BRAC at school premises. Grameenphone and BRAC recently signed an agreement under which BRAC will help Grameenphone to implement the programme on field level…

BRAC ‏@BRACworld Feb 12
BRAC’s work in #legal #empowerment of the #poor published in the @WorldBank Justice and Development Series http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTLAWJUSTINST/0,,contentMDK:23529464~noSURL:Y~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:1974062,00.html …

Casa Alianza  [to 16 February 2014]
Covenant House [to 16 February 2014]

Covenant House ‏@CovenantHouse Feb 14
Have you subscribed to our #Youtube channel? Subscribe and share our videos! Spread the message of #CovenantHouse. http://ow.ly/tyYqs

Covenant House ‏@CovenantHouse Feb 14
Don’t forget to follow @Covenant_House on #Instagram for exclusive photos from our events! #CovenantHouse.

ECPAT  [to 16 February 2014]

Life under the poverty line pushes Cameroon’s children into prostitution at a very young age
Cameroon, situated in one of the poorest regions of the world, is marked by persistent conflict. Out of 187 countries, Cameroon is ranked 150th on the Human Development Index, with 46% of its children living under the poverty threshold. Although unemployment reached 20% of the population, 40% of children aged 10 to 17 were in the workforce in 2010.

Children in Cameroon are highly at risk for sexual exploitation. One out of four children under eight years of age is orphaned while almost 30% of children under five do not have the proper identification papers. Even worse, 26% of children under eight are victims of serious physical abuse. The main risk factors for such abuse are extreme poverty, the lack of parental supports and an inadequate legislation to combat this phenomenon. These factors also push young people into prostitution. According to one study, around 4000 of children aged 11 to 17 are victims of child prostitution in Cameroon and most are forced into prostitution between the ages of 9 and 17. Despite being victims, the authorities treat these children as criminals and many are arrested and then forced to have sex with police officers in order to be released. Moreover, one out of for children forced to work in the sex trade is subjected to torture by both the clients and police…

To under­stand more about the com­mer­cial sex­ual exploita­tion of chil­dren in Cameroon you can read the full report:
Rapport: Global de Suivi de la mise en oeuvre des actions de lutte contre l’exploitation sexuelle des enfants à des fins commerciales :: LA RÉPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN
2013; 60 pages: http://resources.ecpat.net/EI/Pdf/A4A_II/A4A_V2_AF_Cameroon.pdf
Droits d’auteur © 2013, ECPAT International (2ème édition)
Cette publication a été réalisée avec le soutien financier de l’Agence Suédoise de Développement International (ASDI), The Oak Foundation et Irish Aid.  Cette publication a été redigée par Elphie Galland avec l’assistance de François-Xavier Souchet, Sarah Haider et de Melanie K. Gnandi. Ce rapport a été élaboré en collaboration avec ASSEJA.

ECPAT International ‏@ECPAT Feb 12
How well is #Cameroon protecting its children from #CSEC? Read ECPAT’s country monitoring report here: http://bit.ly/1ltNnXN

Ecpat Belgium ‏@ecpatbelgium Feb 11
Want to know more about our #makeitsafe project? http://ecpat.be/en/our-actions/project-make-it-safe/ … #SID2014 @ECPATUK @ECPAT_NL @ECPATgermany @ECPAT

ECPAT International ‏@ECPAT Feb 12
Celebrating the 18th National #ChildSexAbuse Awareness Week in the #Phillippines! http://bit.ly/1bLFAyx

ECPAT International ‏@ECPAT Feb 11
How well is #Switzerland protecting its children from #CSEC? Read ECPAT’s country monitoring report here: http://buff.ly/1jrVK80 .