Journal of the Royal Society – Interface
April 6, 2014; 11 (93)
http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/current

Corruption drives the emergence of civil society
Sherief Abdallah1,2,3, Rasha Sayed1, Iyad Rahwan4,2, Brad L. LeVeck5, Manuel Cebrian6,7,
Alex Rutherford4,8 and James H. Fowler5

Author Affiliations
1Informatics Department, The British University in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
3Faculty of Computers and Information, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
4Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
5Political Science Department, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
6National Information and Communications Technology Australia, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
7Department of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
8United Nations Global Pulse
http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/93/20131044.abstract

Abstract
Centralized sanctioning institutions have been shown to emerge naturally through social learning, displace all other forms of punishment and lead to stable cooperation. However, this result provokes a number of questions. If centralized sanctioning is so successful, then why do many highly authoritarian states suffer from low levels of cooperation? Why do states with high levels of public good provision tend to rely more on citizen-driven peer punishment? Here, we consider how corruption influences the evolution of cooperation and punishment. Our model shows that the effectiveness of centralized punishment in promoting cooperation breaks down when some actors in the model are allowed to bribe centralized authorities. Counterintuitively, a weaker centralized authority is actually more effective because it allows peer punishment to restore cooperation in the presence of corruption. Our results provide an evolutionary rationale for why public goods provision rarely flourishes in polities that rely only on strong centralized institutions. Instead, cooperation requires both decentralized and centralized enforcement. These results help to explain why citizen participation is a fundamental necessity for policing the commons.

New England Journal of Medicine
February 6, 2014  Vol. 370 No. 6
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal

Perspective
Ending AIDS — Is an HIV Vaccine Necessary?
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., and Hilary D. Marston, M.D., M.P.H.
N Engl J Med 2014; 370:495-498February 6, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1313771

The numbers of AIDS-related deaths and new HIV infections have decreased dramatically, thanks to prevention and treatment tools. But to control the pandemic more quickly and sustain the success, a safe and at least moderately effective vaccine is essential.

New England Journal of Medicine
February 6, 2014  Vol. 370 No. 6
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal

Perspective
Transforming Lives, Enhancing Communities — Innovations in Global Mental Health
V. Patel and S. Saxena

Excerpt  [Free Full Text]
Mr. K. spent nearly a year and a half bound to a log in his home village in northeastern Ghana. His crime? He had a psychotic disorder, and his family could not afford the $17 for antipsychotic medication that would have stabilized his condition. Instead, they consulted a traditional healer, who pinned Mr. K.’s right leg inside a hole in the log and warned his family not to free him lest the wrath of the gods be visited on them.

At least 10% of the world’s population is affected by one of a wide range of mental disorders; as many as 700 million people had a mental disorder in 2010. The 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study showed that mental disorders account for 7.4% of the world’s burden of health conditions in terms of disability-adjusted life-years1 and nearly a quarter of all years lived with disability — more than cardiovascular diseases or cancer (see pie chart Proportions of Global Disability-Adjusted Life-Years Associated with Mental Disorders Accounted for by Various Types of Disorders. for the contribution of different mental disorders to this burden). Incredibly, these numbers probably underestimate the true burden, since they do not include the effects of mental disorders on other high-priority health conditions — for example, the effect of maternal depression on infant undernutrition in low-income settings.2 Furthermore, the trends in the global burden of disease suggest that the proportionate burden of mental disorders will continue to grow…

New England Journal of Medicine
February 6, 2014  Vol. 370 No. 6
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal

Original Article
Epidemiology of Human Infections with Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus in China
Qun Li, M.D., Lei Zhou, M.D., Minghao Zhou, Ph.D., Zhiping Chen, M.D., Furong Li, M.D., Huanyu Wu, M.D., Nijuan Xiang, M.D., Enfu Chen, M.P.H., Fenyang Tang, M.D., Dayan Wang, M.D., Ling Meng, M.D., Zhiheng Hong, M.D., Wenxiao Tu, M.D., Yang Cao, M.D., Leilei Li, Ph.D., Fan Ding, M.D., Bo Liu, M.D., Mei Wang, M.D., Rongheng Xie, M.D., Rongbao Gao, M.D., Xiaodan Li, M.D., Tian Bai, M.D., Shumei Zou, M.D., Jun He, M.D., Jiayu Hu, M.D., Yangting Xu, M.D., Chengliang Chai, M.D., Shiwen Wang, M.D., Yongjun Gao, M.D., Lianmei Jin, M.D., Yanping Zhang, M.D., Huiming Luo, M.D., Hongjie Yu, M.D., M.P.H., Jianfeng He, M.D., Qi Li, M.D., Xianjun Wang, M.D., Lidong Gao, M.D., Xinghuo Pang, M.D., Guohua Liu, M.D., Yansheng Yan, M.D., Hui Yuan, M.D., Yuelong Shu, Ph.D., Weizhong Yang, M.D., Yu Wang, M.D., Fan Wu, M.D., Timothy M. Uyeki, M.D., M.P.H., M.P.P., and Zijian Feng, M.D., M.P.H.
N Engl J Med 2014; 370:520-532February 6, 2014DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1304617
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1304617

Abstract
Background
The first identified cases of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus infection in humans occurred in China during February and March 2013. We analyzed data obtained from field investigations to describe the epidemiologic characteristics of H7N9 cases in China identified as of December 1, 2013.
Full Text of Background…

Methods
Field investigations were conducted for each confirmed case of H7N9 virus infection. A patient was considered to have a confirmed case if the presence of the H7N9 virus was verified by means of real-time reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction assay (RT-PCR), viral isolation, or serologic testing. Information on demographic characteristics, exposure history, and illness timelines was obtained from patients with confirmed cases. Close contacts were monitored for 7 days for symptoms of illness. Throat swabs were obtained from contacts in whom symptoms developed and were tested for the presence of the H7N9 virus by means of real-time RT-PCR.
Full Text of Methods…

Results
Among 139 persons with confirmed H7N9 virus infection, the median age was 61 years (range, 2 to 91), 71% were male, and 73% were urban residents. Confirmed cases occurred in 12 areas of China. Nine persons were poultry workers, and of 131 persons with available data, 82% had a history of exposure to live animals, including chickens (82%). A total of 137 persons (99%) were hospitalized, 125 (90%) had pneumonia or respiratory failure, and 65 of 103 with available data (63%) were admitted to an intensive care unit. A total of 47 persons (34%) died in the hospital after a median duration of illness of 21 days, 88 were discharged from the hospital, and 2 remain hospitalized in critical condition; 2 patients were not admitted to a hospital. In four family clusters, human-to-human transmission of H7N9 virus could not be ruled out. Excluding secondary cases in clusters, 2675 close contacts of case patients completed the monitoring period; respiratory symptoms developed in 28 of them (1%); all tested negative for H7N9 virus.
Full Text of Results…

Conclusions
Most persons with confirmed H7N9 virus infection had severe lower respiratory tract illness, were epidemiologically unrelated, and had a history of recent exposure to poultry. However, limited, nonsustained human-to-human H7N9 virus transmission could not be ruled out in four families.
Full Text of Discussion…

New England Journal of Medicine
February 6, 2014  Vol. 370 No. 6
http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal

Global Health
Health Care Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Anne Mills, D.H.S.A., Ph.D.
N Engl J Med 2014; 370:552-557 February 6, 2014 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra1110897

Excerpt
Over the past 10 years, debates on global health have paid increasing attention to the importance of health care systems, which encompass the institutions, organizations, and resources (physical, financial, and human) assembled to deliver health care services that meet population needs. It has become especially important to emphasize health care systems in low- and middle-income countries because of the substantial external funding provided for disease-specific programs, especially for drugs and medical supplies, and the relative underfunding of the broader health care infrastructures in these countries.1 A functioning health care system is fundamental to the achievement of universal coverage for health care, which has been the focus of recent statements by advocacy groups and other organizations around the globe, including a declaration by the United Nations in 2012.2

Recent analyses have drawn attention to the weaknesses of health care systems in low- and middle-income countries. For example, in the 75 countries that account for more than 95% of maternal and child deaths, the median proportion of births attended by a skilled health worker is only 62% (range, 10 to 100%), and women without money or coverage for this service are much less likely to receive it than are women with the means to pay for it.3 Lack of financial protection for the costs of health care means that approximately 100 million people are pushed below the poverty line each year by payments for health care,4 and many more will not seek care because they lack the necessary funds.

In response to such deficiencies in the health care system, a number of countries and their partners in development have been introducing new approaches to financing, organizing, and delivering health care. This article briefly reviews the main weaknesses of health care systems in low- and middle-income countries, lists the most common responses to those weaknesses, and then presents three of the most popular responses for further review. These responses, which have attracted considerable controversy, involve the questions of whether to pay for health care through general taxation or contributory insurance funds to improve financial protection for specific sections of the population, whether to use financial incentives to increase health care utilization and improve health care quality, and whether to make use of private entities to extend the reach of the health care system.

This review draws on what is now quite an extensive literature on the deficiencies of health care systems1 and on the Health Systems Evidence database.5 However, the poor quality and uneven coverage of evidence on the strengthening of health care systems means that evidence of deficiencies is stronger than evidence of remedies. Moreover, the specific circumstances of individual countries strongly influence both decisions about which approaches might be relevant and their success, so any generalizations made from health systems research in particular countries must be carefully considered.6 It is unlikely that there is one single blueprint for an ideal health care system design or a magic bullet that will automatically remedy deficiencies. The strengthening of health care systems in low- and middle-income countries must be seen as a long-term developmental process….

PLoS One
[Accessed 8 February 2014]
http://www.plosone.org/

Research Article
Visual Difficulty and Employment Status in the World
Hanen Harrabi, Marie-Josee Aubin, Maria Victoria Zunzunegui, Slim Haddad, Ellen E. Freeman
Published: February 07, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088306
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0088306

Abstract
Purpose
Using a world-wide, population-based dataset, we sought to examine the relationship between visual difficulty and employment status.

Methods
The World Health Survey was conducted in 70 countries throughout the world in 2003 using a random, multi-stage, stratified, cluster sampling design. Far vision was assessed by asking about the level of difficulty in seeing and recognizing a person you know across the road (i.e. from a distance of about 20 meters). Responses included none, mild, moderate, severe, or extreme/unable. Participants were asked about their current job, and if they were not working, the reason why (unable to find job, ill health, homemaker, studies, unpaid work, other). The occupation in the last 12 months was obtained. Multinomial regression was used accounting for the complex survey design.

Results
Of those who wanted to work, 79% of those with severe visual difficulty and 64% of those with extreme visual difficulty were actually working. People who had moderate, severe, or extreme visual difficulty had a higher odds of not working due to an inability to find a job and of not working due to ill health after adjusting for demographic and health factors (P<0.05).

Conclusions
As the major causes of visual impairment in the world are uncorrected refractive error and cataract, countries are losing a great deal of labor productivity by failing to provide for the vision health needs of their citizens and failing to help them integrate into the workforce.

PLoS One
[Accessed 8 February 2014]
http://www.plosone.org/

Overview
Methods to Assess the Impact of Mass Oral Cholera Vaccination Campaigns under Real Field Conditions
Jacqueline Deen mail, Mohammad Ali, David Sack
Published: February 07, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088139
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0088139

Abstract
There is increasing interest to use oral cholera vaccination as an additional strategy to water and sanitation interventions against endemic and epidemic cholera. There are two internationally-available and WHO-prequalified oral cholera vaccines: an inactivated vaccine containing killed whole-cells of V. cholerae O1 with recombinant cholera toxin B-subunit (WC/rBS) and a bivalent inactivated vaccine containing killed whole cells of V. cholerae O1 and V. cholerae O139 (BivWC). The efficacy, effectiveness, direct and indirect (herd) protection conferred by WC/rBS and BivWC are well established. Yet governments may need local evidence of vaccine impact to justify and scale-up mass oral cholera vaccination campaigns. We discuss various approaches to assess oral cholera vaccine protection, which may be useful to policymakers and public health workers considering deployment and evaluation of the vaccine.

PLoS One
[Accessed 8 February 2014]
http://www.plosone.org/

Research Article
Epidemic Impacts of a Community Empowerment Intervention for HIV Prevention among Female Sex Workers in Generalized and Concentrated Epidemics
Andrea L. Wirtz mail, Carel Pretorius, Chris Beyrer, Stefan Baral, Michele R. Decker, Susan G. Sherman, Michael Sweat, Tonia Poteat, Jennifer Butler, Robert Oelrichs, Iris Semini, Deanna Kerrigan
Published: February 06, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088047
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0088047

Abstract
Introduction
Sex workers have endured a high burden of HIV infection in and across HIV epidemics. A comprehensive, community empowerment-based HIV prevention intervention emphasizes sex worker organization and mobilization to address HIV risk and often includes community-led peer education, condom distribution, and other activities. Meta-analysis of such interventions suggests a potential 51% reduction in inconsistent condom use. Mathematical modeling exercises provide theoretical insight into potential impacts of the intervention on HIV incidence and burden in settings where interventions have not yet been implemented.

Methods
We used a deterministic model, Goals, to project the impact on HIV infections when the community empowerment interventions were scaled up among female sex workers in Kenya, Thailand, Brazil, and Ukraine. Modeling scenarios included expansion of the comprehensive community empowerment-based HIV prevention intervention from baseline coverage over a 5-year period (5–65% in Kenya and Ukraine; 10–70% in Thailand and Brazil), while other interventions were held at baseline levels. A second exercise increased the intervention coverage simultaneously with equitable access to ART for sex workers. Impacts on HIV outcomes among sex workers and adults are observed from 2012–2016 and, compared to status quo when all interventions are held constant.

Results
Optimistic but feasible coverage (65%–70%) of the intervention demonstrated a range of impacts on HIV: 220 infections averted over 5 yrs. among sex workers in Thailand, 1,830 in Brazil, 2,220 in Ukraine, and 10,800 infections in Kenya. Impacts of the intervention for female sex workers extend to the adult population, cumulatively averting 730 infections in Thailand to 20,700 adult infections in Kenya. Impacts vary by country, influenced by HIV prevalence in risk groups, risk behaviors, intervention use, and population size.

Discussion
A community empowerment approach to HIV prevention and access to universal ART for female sex workers is a promising human rights-based solution to overcoming the persistent burden of HIV among female sex workers across epidemic settings.

Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health (RPSP/PAJPH)
December 2013 Vol. 34, No. 6
http://www.paho.org/journal/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=134&Itemid=230&lang=en

EDITORIALES / EDITORIALS
Action on social determinants of health in the Americas
Acción en los determinantes sociales de la salud en las Américas

ARTÍCULOS DE INVESTIGACIÓN ORIGINAL / ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLES
Measuring progress of collaborative action in a community health effort [Medición del progreso de las actividades de colaboración en una iniciativa de salud comunitaria]
Vicki L. Collie-Akers, Stephen B. Fawcett, and Jerry A. Schultz

 Indicadores de accesibilidad geográfica a los centros de atención primaria para la gestión de inequidades [Use of indicators of geographical accessibility to primary health care centers in addressing inequities]
Diana De Pietri, Patricia Dietrich, Patricia Mayo, Alejandro Carcagno y Ernesto de Titto

ARTÍCULOS DE REVISIÓN / REVIEWS
Health systems in context: a systematic review of the integration of the social determinants of health within health systems frameworks [Sistemas de salud en su contexto: revisión sistemática de la integración de los determinantes sociales de la salud en los marcos de los sistemas de salud]
Evan Russell, Bryce Johnson, Heidi Larsen, M. Lelinneth B. Novilla, Josefien van Olmen, and
R. Chad Swanson

OPINIÓN Y ANÁLISIS / OPINION AND ANALYSIS
Integrating social determinants of health in the universal health coverage monitoring framework [La integración de los determinantes sociales de la salud en el marco de la vigilancia de la cobertura universal de salud]
Jeanette Vega and Patricia Frenz

Synergy for health equity: integrating health promotion and social determinants of health approaches in and beyond the Americas [Sinergia para la equidad en salud: integración de los enfoques de la promoción de la salud y de los determinantes sociales de la salud dentro y fuera de la Región de las Américas]
Suzanne F. Jackson, Anne-Emanuelle Birn, Stephen B. Fawcett, Blake Poland, and Jerry A. Schultz

Sustainability
Volume 6, Issue 2 (February 2014), Pages 474-
http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/2

Making Sustainable Consumption and Production the Core of Sustainable Development Goals
by Lewis Akenji and Magnus Bengtsson
Sustainability 2014, 6(2), 513-529; doi:10.3390/su6020513
Received: 29 November 2013; in revised form: 15 January 2014 / Accepted: 16 January 2014 / Published: 24 January 2014
| Download PDF Full-text (825 KB) | Download XML Full-text

Abstract
This paper argues that sustainable consumption and production (SCP) should play a prominent role in the formulation and implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and discusses how this could be practically done. Unsustainable patterns of consumption and production have been declared the primary cause of environmental deterioration. This was clearly recognized already at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (or the Rio Summit) in 1992; and this recognition has been reconfirmed in all high-level sustainability meetings since then. SCP aims to change these patterns; it is a policy agenda for addressing the root causes of our ecological predicament, while, at the same time, providing for human wellbeing and prosperity. Drawing from international agreements, practical policy experience and research from a range of disciplines, the paper provides a clarifying framework for scientifically robust, policy-relevant and practical goal-setting for SCP within the SDGs. Special attention is given to how SCP in the SDGs can create synergies with other international policy initiatives. The paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of two possible options for reflecting SCP in the SDGs framework: (i) SCP as a stand-alone goal; and (ii) SCP as a cross-cutting objective, embedded within relevant goals. While these two options are not necessarily mutually exclusive, given the competing number of issues for prioritization and the fact that a 10-Year Framework of Programs on SCP has also recently been established, it is hardly foreseeable that both options can be realized. The paper further proposes a set of basic principles for SCP at the global level and makes recommendations towards the formulation of indicators supporting SCP objectives in the SDGs.

Sustainability
Volume 6, Issue 2 (February 2014), Pages 474-
http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/6/2

How Assessment Methods Can Support Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries—A Critical Review
by Christian Zurbrügg, Marco Caniato and Mentore Vaccari
Sustainability 2014, 6(2), 545-570; doi:10.3390/su6020545
Received: 10 November 2013; in revised form: 9 January 2014 / Accepted: 15 January 2014 / Published: 27 January 2014
Download PDF Full-text (764 KB) | Download XML Full-text

Abstract
Selecting actions for improvement of solid waste management in low and middle income countries and understanding how a specific decision choice will fit and impact on a local context is key to identifying sustainable solutions. Assessment of the choice (be it technical or managerial) and assessment of the local enabling or disabling conditions are both important steps in the decision making process. Various assessment tools and methods are currently available to support decision-making in solid waste management. Assessment can be used to identify weaknesses or strengths of existing systems in a structured way and hereby highlight factors of success and failure. Assessment methods can also evaluate and compare different possible choices as in project scenarios. This overview describes established and innovative assessment methods serving both these purposes. A range of assessment tools are often designed to assess a specific sustainability domain (technical, environmental and health, economic and financial, social and institutional, organizational aspects), others attempt to provide a more holistic picture by integrating different sustainability domains into the same tool. This paper reviews a number of methods describing and discussing each of them, and referring to their use in low and middle-income countries if published in scientific literature. The overview concludes that in low- and middle-income countries the use of comprehensive assessment methods is yet very limited. We hypothesize that most formal methods of assessment are still too complex and generally overburden the weak local capacities intended for their usage. The few applications identified, were conducted by academia for scientific purposes. Lack of resources to collect the vast data required for some assessment methods is a further restriction to their practical application. Future development is suggested to improve user friendliness of existing tools or to simplify certain approaches and develop more appropriate methods. A user-oriented focus in the development of assessment tools would enhance their application, provide sound data for informed decision making and foster a dialogue between technicians and policy makers in low- and middle-income countries.

World Heritage Review
n°70 December 2013
http://whc.unesco.org/en/review/70/

Theme: Synergies to Protect Sites
At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders agreed that the conservation of biodiversity was one of the cornerstones of sustainable development. They acknowledged that the world was facing an unprecedented wave of species extinction and the rapid destruction of ecosystems and decided that it was urgent to halt the global loss of biodiversity in order to ensure that we leave a healthy and viable world for future generations. To achieve this, the Rio Summit adopted the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This agreement, which has been adhered to by the vast majority of governments, sets out commitments for maintaining the world’s ecological foundations as economic development accelerates.

The Convention on Biological Diversity completed the international instruments the global community has developed in the run-up and follow-up to the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm, 1972). The World Heritage Convention was one of the first of these instruments and since its adoption by the General Conference of UNESCO that same year, has made a very important contribution by ensuring the conservation of the most outstanding places for biodiversity and ecosystems. Today, these sites in total cover over 10 per cent of the surface of the global network of protected areas.

But the battle for conserving world biodiversity is far from won. The 2010 CBD Conference of the Parties adopted a new Strategic Plan for Biodiversity for the next decade, setting out twenty ambitious and specific targets, known as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. This new plan will be the overarching framework on biodiversity, not only for all the biodiversity-related conventions, including the World Heritage Convention, but for the entire United Nations system.

This issue explores how the World Heritage Convention contributes to achieving these targets, by working in synergy with other site-based instruments. Cultural landscapes and their overlap with protected areas are examined in sites such as Iceland’s Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park; Global Geoparks and their affiliation with World Heritage sites, including Messel Pit Fossil Site (Germany); joint Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage sites, such as Socotra Archipelago (Yemen); and Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar List) that are also World Heritage sites, such as Slovenia’s Škocjan Caves. These articles demonstrate how these different instruments contribute in synergistic and complementary ways towards achieving sustainable development.

Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal
Volume XIV, Issue 2
http://www.law.yale.edu/academics/YHRDLJcurrentissue.htm

COMMENTS
:: Thomas Pogge, Are We Violating the Human Rights of the World’s Poor? | PDF

:: Redson Edward Kapindu, Policies, Aspirations, or Rights?  A Case for Mainstreaming Socioeconomic Rights in the Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) | PDF

:: Ezra Rosser, Getting to Know the Poor | PDF

:: Sarah El-Ghazaly, Entrenching Poverty in Egypt: Human Rights Violations That Contributed to the January 25 Revolution | PDF

BOOK REVIEWS
:: Reviewed by Jeff Lingwall, The Global New Deal, by William Felice | PDF

:: Reviewed by Cynthia Okechukwu, Stones of Hope: How African Activists Reclaim Human

Rights to Challenge Poverty, edited by Lucie E. White & Jeremy Perelman | PDF

Nature Geoscience
Nature Geoscience 7, 78–79 (2014)
doi:10.1038/ngeo2081
Published online 30 January 2014

Commentary
Science to prevent disasters
Erin Coughlan de Perez, Fleur Monasso, Maarten van Aalst & Pablo Suarez
Affiliations

Excerpt
Scientific climate information can save lives and livelihoods, yet its application is not always straightforward. Much of the available information does not describe the risk of threshold events, and misunderstandings can leave society less resilient to climate shocks.

Predictable weather events continue to result in disasters in many locations. Despite this predictability, those who will be most affected often do not receive warnings when hazardous events are likely to happen. At least in part, this failure of communication is a result of many government agencies and humanitarian organizations still being insufficiently connected to climate science1. The Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre2 aims to bridge this gap between scientific understanding and decision-making by facilitating action based on climate information, in the context of both humanitarian work and longer-term development. In particular, we provide support to create early warning systems that characterize risk across timescales, from hours or weeks to years or even decades ahead of a potential emergency. These warnings then systematically trigger actions to improve vulnerability reduction, preparedness and response — for example, building drainage channels to prevent long-term flooding, or training volunteers who can help manage an evacuation when necessary.

Our early warning systems require interfaces between information providers and users. Especially when scientific findings are to be used across timescales, we need to draw on broader information than that provided by operational services (such as meteorological agencies), and also consult the wider scientific community and published literature. Based on our experience at the intersection of science and risk management practice, we argue that four features make publications in climate research particularly useful and actionable: a focus on extremes or threshold events rather than average conditions; characterization of the full range of variability over time; attention to implications of model uncertainties; and a clear, jargon-free and succinct outline of the main findings of a paper…

Journal of Law, Policy and Globalization
Vol 21 (2014)
http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JLPG/issue/current

Direct Participation of Civilians in Hostilities as an Exception to Civilians Immunity in Armed Conflict: A Critical Review
Abdulrashid Lawan Haruna, Tijjani Musa Buba

Abstract
Notion of direct participation in hostilities has been a complex and contentious phenomenon within the realm of armed conflict, especially where the armed conflict involves non state armed actors. The notion covers a situation where a person carries out specific acts which by their nature or purpose form part of the conduct of hostilities between parties to an armed conflict. In this circumstance, a person loses his immunity and becomes a legitimate target since he ceases to be harmless. Though it is usual that civilians and civilian objects enjoy immunity against direct attack, but where either of the belligerents is an armed group, there is problem of how to deal with members of such armed groups. This problem emanates from the fact that membership of the armed group is drawn from the civilian population while during armed conflict, the general population is made up of civilians and members of such group, and it creates a problem of identity. Likewise, the problem may also be attributed to lack of legal framework defining the status of members of armed groups and the notion of direct participation in hostilities. Therefore, the article analyses the notion of direct participation with a view to determining when civilian or a member of an armed group loses immunity against attack.

Stability: International Journal of Security & Development 
28 Jan 2014 3(1):Art. 3
Violent Conflicts and Civil Strife in West Africa: Causes, Challenges and Prospects
Nancy Annan
http://www.stabilityjournal.org/article/view/44

Abstract
The advent of intra-state conflicts or ‘new wars’ in West Africa has brought many of its economies to the brink of collapse, creating humanitarian casualties and concerns. For decades, countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea- Bissau were crippled by conflicts and civil strife in which violence and incessant killings were prevalent. While violent conflicts are declining in the sub-region, recent insurgencies in the Sahel region affecting the West African countries of Mali, Niger and Mauritania and low intensity conflicts surging within notably stable countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal sends alarming signals of the possible re-surfacing of internal and regional violent conflicts. These conflicts are often hinged on several factors including poverty, human rights violations, bad governance and corruption, ethnic marginalization and small arms proliferation. Although many actors including the ECOWAS, civil society and international community have been making efforts, conflicts continue to persist in the sub-region and their resolution is often protracted. This paper posits that the poor understanding of the fundamental causes of West Africa’s violent conflicts and civil strife would likely cause the sub-region to continue experiencing and suffering the brunt of these violent wars.

UNDP Report: Humanity Divided: Confronting Inequality in Developing Countries
29 Jan 2014
Full Report: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/Poverty%20Reduction/Inclusive%20development/Humanity%20Divided/HumanityDivided_Full-Report.pdf

This report revisits the theoretical concepts of inequalities including their measurements, analyzes their global trends, presents the policy makers’ perception of inequalities in 15 countries and identifies various policy options in combating this major development challenge of our time.

The report makes the basic point that in spite of the impressive progress humanity has made on many fronts over the decades, it still remains deeply divided. In that context, it is intended to help development actors, citizens, and policy makers contribute to global dialogues and initiate conversations in their own countries about the drivers and extent of inequalities, their impact, and the ways in which they can be curbed.

This report was prepared by the Poverty Practice in the Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP.

Key messages:
:: On average—and taking into account population size—income inequality increased by 11 percent in developing countries between 1990 and 2010.
:: A significant majority of households in developing countries—more than 75 percent of the population—are living today in societies where income is more unequally distributed than it was in the 1990s.
:: Evidence shows that, beyond a certain threshold, inequality harms growth and poverty reduction, the quality of relations in the public and political spheres of life and individuals’ sense of fulfilment and self-worth.
:: There is nothing inevitable about growing income inequality; several countries managed to contain or reduce income inequality while achieving strong growth performance.
:: Evidence shows that greater income inequality between households is systematically associated with greater inequality in non-income outcomes.
:: Inequality cannot be effectively confronted unless the inextricable links between inequality of outcomes and inequality of opportunities are taken into account.
:: In a global survey conducted in preparation for this report, policy makers from around the world acknowledged that inequality in their countries is generally high and potentially a threat to long-term social and economic development.
:: Redistribution remains very important to inequality reduction; however, a shift is needed towards more inclusive growth patterns in order to sustainably reduce inequality.
:: Reducing inequality requires addressing inequality-reproducing cultural norms and strengthening the political agency of disadvantaged groups.
:: Evidence from developing countries shows that children in the lowest wealth quintile are still up to three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than children in the richest quintiles.
:: Social protection has been significantly extended globally, yet persons with disabilities are up to five times more likely than average to incur catastrophic health expenditures.
:: Despite overall declines in maternal mortality in the majority of developing countries, women in rural areas are still up to three times more likely to die while giving birth than women living in urban centers.

UNOCHA: 2014 Overview of Global Humanitarian Response 2014
February 2014; 28 pages
Full report: https://docs.unocha.org/sites/dms/CAP/Overview_of_Global_Humanitarian_Response_2014.pdf

Excerpt from the Foreword
….UN agencies and partner organizations are working together to transform the way we do our business by strengthening humanitarian leadership, streamlining coordination mechanisms, improving accountability to affected people, building capacity for preparedness and response, and strengthening partnerships with a broad range of countries and organizations at the national, regional and global levels. We have called this our Transformative Agenda as we seek to make our response efforts faster, more strategic, flexible and inclusive.

The strategic response plans for 2014 set out in this document are based on a systematic and focused assessment and analysis of humanitarian needs to build a solid evidence base for comprehensive humanitarian action. In the coming months, we will seek further improvements including monitoring frameworks for each major crisis and revamped methods for determining funding requirements and tracking the use of resources. We will continue to seek ways to become more inclusive, accountable, inter-operable and adaptable to help the growing number of people in crisis, and to work with the full array of actors involved in humanitarian work including the private sector. Improving humanitarian action while keeping costs down is one of our objectives, for example the use of cash transfers complementing the physical delivery of goods and services, mobile phone and crowd-sourcing technology for better communication with disaster-affected people, and information technology to better map where the people in need are and what is being done to support them.

This document outlines strategic response plans and resource requirements to respond to humanitarian emergencies around the world in 2014. It represents the synthesis of the work of hundreds of organizations committed to life-saving humanitarian action across the world. There are links to the full response plans, and a Guide to Giving which explains how donors, including those from the private sector, can support the response plans…

Chapters
GLOBAL HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE FOR 2014 5
HUMANITARIAN NEEDS OVERVIEWS 7
OVERVIEW OF STRATEGIC RESPONSE PLANS 9
HUMANITARIAN FUNDING IN 2013 11
THE MODIFIED CONSOLIDATED APPEAL PROCESS 13
COUNTRY OVERVIEWS 15
–       AFGHANISTAN 16
–       CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 16
–       DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO 17
–       HAITI 17
–       MYANMAR 18
–       SOMALIA 19
–       SOUTH SUDAN 19
–       SUDAN 20
–       YEMEN 20
–       SYRIA 22
–       PHILIPPINES

UNICEF Report: the State of the World’s Children 2014 in Numbers: Every Child Counts – Revealing disparities, advancing children’s rights.
February 2014
Interactive website: http://www.unicef.org/sowc2014/numbers/

Excerpt from media release
“…Tremendous progress has been made since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted in 1989 and in the run up to the culmination of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. The new report shows that:
:: Some 90 million children who would have died before reaching the age of 5 if child mortality rates had stuck at their 1990 level have, instead, lived. In large measure, this is because of progress in delivering immunizations, health, and water and sanitation services.
:: Improvements in nutrition have led to a 37 per cent drop in stunting since 1990.
:: Primary school enrolment has increased, even in the least developed countries: Whereas in 1990 only 53 in 100 children in those countries gained school admission, by 2011 the number had improved to 81 in 100.
Even so, the statistics in the report, titled Every Child Counts: Revealing disparities, advancing children’s rights, also bear witness to ongoing violations of children’s rights:
:: Some 6.6 million children under 5 years of age died in 2012, mostly from preventable causes, in violation of their fundamental right to survive and develop.
:: Fifteen per cent of the world’s children are put to work that compromises their right to protection from economic exploitation and infringes on their right to learn and play.
:: Eleven per cent of girls are married before they turn 15, jeopardizing their rights to health, education and protection.
Data also reveal gaps and inequities, showing the gains of development are unevenly distributed:
:: The world’s poorest children are nearly three (2.7) times less likely than the richest ones to have a skilled attendant at their birth, leaving them and their mothers at increased risk of birth-related complications.
:: In The Niger, all urban households but only 39 per cent of rural households have access to safe drinking water.
:: In Chad, for every 100 boys who enter secondary school, only 44 girls do – leaving them without an education and without protections and services that schools can provide.
The report notes that “being counted makes children visible, and this act of recognition makes it possible to address their needs and advance their rights.” It adds that innovations in data collection, analysis and dissemination are making it possible to disaggregate data by such factors as location, wealth, sex, and ethnic or disability status, to include children who have been excluded or overlooked by broad averages….

UNESCO Report: Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all
29 Jan 2014.
Excerpt from Introduction http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/reports/2013/

With the deadline for the Education for All goals less than two years away, it is clear that, despite advances over the past decade, not a single goal will be achieved globally by 2015. This year’s EFA Global Monitoring Report vividly underlines the fact that people in the most marginalized groups have continued to be denied opportunities for education over the decade.    It is not too late, however, to accelerate progress in the final stages. And it is vital to put in place a robust global post-2015 education framework to tackle unfinished business while addressing new challenges. Post-2015 education goals will only be achieved if they are accompanied by clear, measurable targets with indicators tracking that no one is left behind, and if specific education financing targets for governments and aid donors are set.

The 2013/4 EFA Global Monitoring Report is divided into three parts. Part 1 provides an update of progress towards the six EFA goals. The second part presents clear evidence that progress in education is vital for achieving development goals after 2015. Part 3 puts the spotlight on the importance of implementing strong policies to unlock the potential of teachers so as to support them in overcoming the global learning crisis.

Highlights

Goal 1: Despite improvements, far too many children lack early childhood care and education. In 2012, 25% of children under 5 suffered from stunting. In 2011, around half of young children had access to pre‑primary education, and in sub-Saharan Africa the share was only 18%.

Goal 2: Universal primary education is likely to be missed by a wide margin. The number of children out of school was 57 million in 2011, half of whom lived in conflict-affected countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 23% of poor girls in rural areas were completing primary education by the end of the decade. If recent trends in the region continue, the richest boys will achieve universal primary completion in 2021, but the poorest girls will not catch up until 2086.

Goal 3: Many adolescents lack foundation skills gained through lower secondary education. In 2011, 69 million adolescents were out of school, with little improvement in this number since 2004. In low income countries, only 37% of adolescents complete lower secondary education, and the rate is as low as 14% for the poorest. On recent trends, girls from the poorest families in sub-Saharan Africa are only expected to achieve lower secondary completion in 2111.

Goal 4: Adult literacy has hardly improved. In 2011, there were 774 million illiterate adults, a decline of just 1% since 2000. The number is projected to fall only slightly, to 743 million, by 2015. Almost two-thirds of illiterate adults are women. The poorest young women in developing countries may not achieve universal literacy until 2072.

Goal 5: Gender disparities remain in many countries. Even though gender parity was supposed to be achieved by 2005, in 2011 only 60% of countries had achieved this goal at the primary level and 38% at the secondary level.

Goal 6: Poor quality of education means millions of children are not learning the basics. Around 250 million children are not learning basic skills, even though half of them have spent at least four years in school. The annual cost of this failure, around US$129 billion. Investing in teachers is key: in around a third of countries, less than 75% of primary school teachers are trained according to national standards. And in a third of countries, the challenge of training
existing teachers is worse than that of recruiting and training new teachers.