Monthly Archives: September 2014

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The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health ::
Holistic Development :: Sustainable Resilience
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Week ending 27 September 2014

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortiums and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor &
Founding Managing Director
GE2P2 – Center for Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

pdf verion: The Sentinel_ week ending 27 September 2014

blog edition: comprised of the 35+ entries posted below on 28 September 2014

UN: High-Level Meeting on Response to Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak

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UN: High-Level Meeting on Response to Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak
SG/2207
25 September 2014 – AM Meeting
‘Every Day, Every Minute, Counts,’ Warns World Health Organization Head at High-Level Meeting on Response to Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak
[Excerpt; Editor’s text bolding]

With the Ebola virus claiming the lives of 200 people each day, most of them women, world leaders at a high-level Headquarters meeting Thursday implored the international community to swiftly ramp up the response to the epidemic ravaging West Africa before it turned into a humanitarian catastrophe.

“Every day, every minute, counts,” said Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), insisting “We must try harder.” Overflowing treatment centres were turning away sick and dying patients. In some areas no treatment beds were available, she said, stressing the need for more centres, as well as community-based care facilities.

United States President Barack Obama agreed. “We are not moving fast enough. We are not doing enough. Right now, everybody has the best of intentions, but people are not putting in the kind of resources that are necessary to put a stop to this epidemic,” he said.

The worst ever outbreak of the virus already had caused a collapse of the public health systems in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — the three most affected countries. If left unchecked, the crisis could quickly become a global threat; stopping it was in everyone’s interest. Last week, the Security Council determined that the outbreak was a threat to international peace and security, adopting resolution 2177 (2014) to that effect.

Mr. Obama today called on international organizations to “cut through red tape and mobilize partners on the ground”, and on Governments to contribute more critical assets such as air transport, medical evacuation, health-care workers and equipment…

…United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said advance teams had already deployed to the three most-affected countries and to the newly formed United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), based in Accra, Ghana, which would lead the Organization’s system-wide response. “We are focusing on stopping the outbreak, treating the infected, providing essential services, preserving stability, and preventing outbreaks in non-affected countries,” he said.

The crisis had highlighted the need to strengthen early identification systems and action, he said. The international community should consider forming a stand-by “white coats” corps of medical professionals, backed by WHO expertise and the United Nations logistical capacity.

“Now is the time for a robust and united effort to stop the outbreak. The world can and must stop Ebola — now,” he said, warning that while dozens of countries and organizations were making lifesaving contributions, they fell short of the 20-fold increase required….

…Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf said “partners and friends, based on understandable fears, have ostracized us, shipping and airline services have sanctioned us and the world has taken some time to fully appreciate and adequately respond to the enormity of our tragedy”.

More than 1,700 Liberians had died already, among them 85 health-care workers, she said. Facing perhaps its greatest challenge ever, her nation was fighting back, building and staffing more treatment centres, and moving more aggressively to prevent the disease’s spread and to change the behaviour at the local level through community outreach.

“We cannot allow the projection of a worst-case scenario: that over 100,000 of our innocent citizens will die from an enemy disease they did not start and do not understand, that the resulting effect will reverse our gains in malaria control and child and maternal mortality,” she said.

Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, said he had declared a state of emergency, shutting down the country for three days to get more than 27,000 health-care educators into every household in the country and reallocating millions of dollars from other vital services to combat Ebola….

…Alpha Condé, President of Guinea, said the outbreak was a threat to international peace and security. The response should be used to rebuild and strengthen the affected countries’ infrastructure so that once the crisis was over they could again foster economic growth and maintain stability….

White House FACT SHEET: Global Health Security Agenda: Getting Ahead of the Curve on Epidemic Threats

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White House FACT SHEET: Global Health Security Agenda: Getting Ahead of the Curve on Epidemic Threats

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa highlights the urgency for immediate action to establish global capacity to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to biological threats like Ebola. Beginning in his 2011 speech at the United Nations General Assembly, the President has called upon all countries to work together to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks before they become epidemics.

The Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) was launched on February 13, 2014 to advance a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats and to bring together nations from all over the world to make new, concrete commitments, and to elevate global health security as a national leaders-level priority. The G7 endorsed the GHSA in June 2014; and Finland and Indonesia hosted commitment development meetings to spur action in May and August.

On September 26, President Obama, National Security Advisor Rice, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Monaco, and Secretaries Kerry, Hagel, and Burwell will meet with Ministers and senior officials from 44 countries and leading international organizations to make specific commitments to implement the GHSA and to work toward a commitment to assist West Africa with needed global health security capacity within 3 years.

Commitments to Action
In 2014, countries developed 11 lines of effort in support of the GHSA – known as Action Packages. The Action Packages are designed to outline tangible, measurable steps required to prevent outbreaks, detect threats in real time, and rapidly respond to infectious disease threats —whether naturally occurring, the result of laboratory accidents, or an act of bioterrorism. The Action Packages include specific targets and indicators that can be used as a basis to measure how national, regional, and global capacities are developed and maintained over the long-term. Since February, countries have made over 100 new commitments to implement the 11 Action Packages. For its part, the United States has committed to assist at least 30 countries over five years to achieve the objectives of the GHSA and has placed a priority for our actions on combating antibiotic resistant bacteria, to improve biosafety and biosecurity on a global basis, and preventing bioterrorism. http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/security

Next Steps: Governance and Tracking
Going forward, 10 countries have agreed to serve on the GHSA Steering Group, which will be chaired by Finland starting in 2015, with representation from countries around the world, including: Canada, Chile, Finland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Korea, and the United States. The Steering Group is charged with tracking progress, identifying challenges, and overseeing implementation for achieving the objectives of the GHSA in support of international standards set by the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the World Organization for Animal Health. This includes the implementation of internationally agreed standards for core capacities, such as the World Health Organization International Health Regulations, the World Organization for Animal Health Performance of Veterinary Services Pathway, and other global health security frameworks. To provide accountability and drive progress toward GHSA goals, an independent, objective and transparent assessment process will be needed. Independent evaluation conducted over the five-year course of the GHSA will help highlight gaps and needed course corrections to ensure that the GHSA targets are reached.

All nations share a responsibility to provide health security for our world and for accelerating action toward a world safe and secure from all infectious disease threats.
Participating Nations—Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and Yemen.

MSF International President Addresses High-Level UN Meeting on Ebola

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MSF International President Addresses High-Level UN Meeting on Ebola
September 25, 2014
Remarks by Joanne Liu, International President, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
[Full text; Editor’s text bolding]

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
Generous pledges of aid and unprecedented UN resolutions are very welcome. But they will mean little, unless they are translated into immediate action.

The reality on the ground today is this: the promised surge has not yet delivered.

The sick are desperate, their families and caregivers are angry, and aid workers are exhausted. Maintaining quality of care is an extreme challenge.

Fear and panic have set in, as infection rates double every three weeks. Mounting numbers are dying of other diseases, like malaria, because health systems have collapsed.

Without you, we fall further behind the epidemic’s deadly trajectory. Today, Ebola is winning.

Our 150-bed facility in Monrovia opens for just thirty minutes each morning. Only a few people are admitted—to fill beds made empty by those who died overnight.
The sick continue to be turned away, only to return home and spread the virus among loved ones and neighbors.

The isolation centers you have promised must be established NOW.

And other countries must not let a few states carry the load. Complacency is a worse enemy than the virus

The required response must be hands-on, rigorous and disciplined. And it must not be subcontracted. It is not enough for states to just build isolation centers. While NGOs can manage some, you will have to manage many.

Don’t cut corners. Massive, direct action is the only way.

But have no doubt about what you will face. This will be extremely challenging.

Scaling up the response will present huge organizational difficulties. The UN cannot fail in coordinating and leading this effort.

In parallel, an equally massive effort is needed to create a vaccine, an additional tool for cutting the chain of transmission.

But current models of vaccine development will not work. We need incentives for trials and production, along with collaborative research and open source data. A safe vaccine must be accessible, and rapidly delivered to the most affected populations.

There is today a political momentum the world has rarely—if ever—seen.

As world leaders, you will be judged by how you use it.

Thank you.

WHO responding to unprecedented scale of humanitarian emergencies

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WHO responding to unprecedented scale of humanitarian emergencies
September 2014
WHO and health partners are responding to an unprecedented five “Grade 3” priority crises at the same time
[Excerpt]
For the first time ever, WHO is leading the health response to five major humanitarian crises at the same time. More than 60 million people, from West Africa to Iraq, urgently require a wide range of health-care services.
West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, and conflict-enflamed humanitarian crises in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Syria and Iraq, have stretched health services to the limit and caused many to collapse. This has required WHO and its health partners to fill increasingly widening gaps to ensure life-saving and routine care for millions of displaced persons and host communities.

“We are dealing with an unprecedented number of multiple humanitarian health crises concurrently. These are more complex and affecting more people than at any point since the end of the Second World War,” says Dr Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General of WHO’s Polio and Emergencies Cluster.

Five highest level crises

The 5 crises have, due to their scale and the emergency health response required, each been categorized as Grade 3 (G3) emergencies, the highest grading determined by WHO as part of its Emergency Response Framework. The ERF grades emergencies across three levels, with Grade 3 being the most serious.

The scale of the emergencies is stark, including:
:: West Africa Ebola outbreak – 22 million people living in the three worst-affected countries – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – are at risk.
:: Iraq – 20 million people affected, including 1.8 million who are internally displaced.
:: Syria – 10.8 million people inside Syria, including 6.5 million people displaced within the country. Another 3 million people have fled the conflict to regional neighbours Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
:: South Sudan – 5.8 million people need humanitarian assistance, including 1.3 million who have been displaced.
:: Central African Republic – 2.5 million people are in need, including 425 000 displaced.

“Just two years ago, WHO developed the Emergency Response Framework (ERF) to guide our response in all types of emergencies,” explains Dr Aylward. “The ERF ensures that the full resources of the organization are made available to support the response to the most severe crises.”

“We are dealing with an unprecedented number of multiple humanitarian health crises concurrently.”

“We felt comfortable that the ERF would help us manage two Grade 3 emergencies concurrently, and if we were running 3 responses, we expected to be exiting one before entering the next. But 2 years later, we are managing five Grade 3 emergencies based on their scale, complexity, urgency, and political, social or economic impact. This is unprecedented – not only for WHO, but for all humanitarian partners.”

“And these will be long-term, sustained crises, not just a time-limited surge period,” he adds….

Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution Condemning Violent Extremism, Underscoring Need to Prevent Travel, Support for Foreign Terrorist Fighters

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Security Council Unanimously Adopts Resolution Condemning Violent Extremism, Underscoring Need to Prevent Travel, Support for Foreign Terrorist Fighters
UN Security Council
7272nd Meeting (PM) SC/11580
24 September 2014
[Excerpt from overview]
At a summit presided over by United States President Barack Obama, opened by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and addressed by scores of national leaders, the Security Council this afternoon called on all States to cooperate urgently on preventing the international flow of terrorist fighters to and from conflict zones.

Through resolution 2178 (2014), adopted unanimously during a meeting that heard from over 50 speakers, the Council condemned violent extremism and decided that Member States shall, consistent with international law, prevent the “recruiting, organizing, transporting or equipping of individuals who travel to a State other than their States of residence or nationality for the purpose of the perpetration, planning of, or participation in terrorist acts”.

Expressing concern over the establishment of international terrorist networks, the Council underscored the “particular and urgent need” to prevent the travel and support for foreign terrorist fighters associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Al-Nusra Front (ANL) and other affiliates or splinter groups of Al-Qaida.

In that context, the Council, through the resolution, decided that all States shall ensure that their legal systems provide for the prosecution, as serious criminal offences, of travel for terrorism or related training, as well as the financing or facilitation of such activities.

Member States, it also decided, shall prevent entry or transit through their territories of any individual about whom that State had credible information of their terrorist-related intentions, without prejudice to transit necessary for the furtherance of judicial processes. It called on States to require airlines to provide passenger lists for that purpose….

UNHCR: Asylum Trends, First half 2014 – Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries

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UNHCR: Asylum Trends, First half 2014 – Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries
September 2014 – 36 pages
[Editor’s abstract for media release and report content]
This report summarizes patterns and trends in the number of individual asylum claims submitted in Europe and selected non-European countries during the first six months of 2014. The data in this report are based on information available as of 3 September 2014, unless otherwise indicated.

These data cover the 38 European and six non-European States that currently provide monthly asylum statistics to UNHCR. Figures are mostly based on official asylum statistics, reflecting national laws and procedures.
UNHCR’s reports on asylum applications in industrialized countries are normally published twice annually.

War, armed conflict, and human rights concerns in a number of countries – notably the Syrian Arab Republic and Ukraine – are among the principal reasons for the upsurge in the number of  asylum-seekers in industrialized countries observed during the first half of 2014. An estimated 330,700 new asylum applications were recorded between January and June 2014, some 64,300 claims or 24 per cent more than during the corresponding period of 2013 (266,300 claims). This figure is almost identical to the figures recorded during the preceding six months of July through December 2013 (328,100).

“We are clearly into an era of growing conflict,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. “The global humanitarian system is already in great difficulty. The international community needs to prepare their populations for the reality that, in the absence of solutions to conflict, more and more people are going to need refuge and care in the coming months and years. Unfortunately, it is not clear that the resources and the access to asylum will be available to help them.”

Despite the net overall increase in new claims shown in the report, more than two thirds of these were in just six countries – Germany, the United States, France, Sweden, Turkey and Italy.

The number of people applying for refugee status in the 44 industrialized countries covered by the report is just one element in the global picture of forced displacement from wars and conflict. Worldwide, 51.2 million were forcibly displaced as of the end of 2013. Most are either internally displaced within their own countries, or are hosted as refugees in states bordering onto war zones.

The full Asylum Trends report is available here.

WHO Statement: Prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth

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WHO Statement: Prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth
pdf [English: http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/134588/1/WHO_RHR_14.23_eng.pdf?ua=1&ua=1
Overview
Every woman has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, including the right to dignified, respectful care during pregnancy and childbirth. However, across the world many women experience disrespectful, abusive, or neglectful treatment during childbirth in facilities. These practices can violate women’s rights, deter women from seeking and using maternal health care services and can have implications for their health and well-being.

WHO Statement
A new WHO statement illustrates a commitment to promoting the rights of women and to promoting access to safe, timely, respectful care during childbirth. It calls for greater co-operation among governments, healthcare providers, managers, professional associations, researchers, women’s advocates, international organizations and women themselves to end disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth.

The WHO statement calls for:
:: Greater support from governments and development partners for research and action
:: Programmes to improve the quality of maternal health care, with a strong focus on respectful care
:: Greater emphasis on the rights of women to dignified, respectful healthcare through pregnancy and childbirth
:: The generation of data related to respectful and disrespectful care practices, systems of accountability and meaningful professional support
:: The involvement of all stakeholders, including women, in efforts to improve quality of care and eliminate disrespectful and abusive practices

UN OCHA: Online system enhances transparency of humanitarian financing in South Sudan

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Online system enhances transparency of humanitarian financing in South Sudan
[Excerpt]
Juba, 25 September 2014: So far in 2014, donors have contributed close to US$1.2 billion for humanitarian action in South Sudan, including over $980 million for projects in the South Sudan Crisis Response Plan.

To enhance transparency of the flow of resources for humanitarian action in South Sudan and other emergencies around the world, the United Nations maintains an online system called the Financial Tracking Service (http://fts.unocha.org/). This public system tracks donations in real-time, specifying which organization has received resources for which projects. For South Sudan, the system has been in operation since the country gained independence in 2011.

Users of the Financial Tracking Service can download pre-prepared tables detailing donors and recipients of funds; create customized searches or focus on specific sectors or organizations; and compare financing flows between different crises across the globe. Though internet-based, the system makes it easy to create, print and share tables with financial information in other formats.

Visit the Financial Tracking Service on: http://fts.unocha.org/. For information on South Sudan, click on “Republic of South Sudan – Crisis Response Plan 2014”.

UNISDR UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [to 27 September 2014]

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UNISDR UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction [to 27 September 2014]
http://www.unisdr.org/

Selected News Briefs
26 Sep 2014
Climate Summit boost for resilient cities
NEW YORK, 25 September 2014 – This week’s UN Climate Summit has generated commitments to raise $2 billion of in-kind and direct support for cities threatened by extreme weather events fuelled by climate change.

The Resilient Cities Acceleration Initiative, backed by the Rockefeller Foundation and other partners in the Medellin Collaboration for Urban Resilience, aims to double its estimated $2 billion annual investment in urban resilience by 2020…

…The Climate Summit commitments also include a plan to assist 500 local governments to develop resilience action plans by 2020 with the deployment of funding and technical support…

UNFPA – Leaders pledge to help end preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths within a generation

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UNFPA United Nations Population Fund [to 27 September 2014]
http://www.unfpa.org/public/

26 September 2014 – Dispatch
Leaders pledge to help end preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths within a generation
UNITED NATIONS, New York – By improving access to essential sexual and reproductive health services – including voluntary family planning and safe delivery care – preventable maternal, newborn and child deaths could be eliminated within a generation. This was the central message of a high-level event hosted by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at UN Headquarters yesterday, where donors pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the Every Woman Every Child movement.

ECHO [to 27 September 2014] [Syria, South Sudan axctions]

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ECHO [to 27 September 2014]
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm

South Sudan: EU increases humanitarian assistance by €20 million
Thu, 25/09/2014 – 12:00
European Commission Press release Brussels, 25 September 2014 The European Commission is responding to the continuing major crisis in South Sudan by increasing its life-saving assistance by a further €20 million to help its most vulnerable people.

Syria crisis: EU steps up assistance
Tue, 23/09/2014 – 19:00
European Commission Press release Brussels, 23 September 2014 The European Commission is increasing its aid to Syria and neighbouring countries by €215 million, as a four-year civil war shows no signs of abating and the suffering of millions of ordinary people – including new refugees – soars.

Statement by the African Union Commission Chairperson, HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to the High level Meeting on Ebola Response

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African Union [to 27 September 2014]
http://www.au.int/en/

Statement by the African Union Commission Chairperson, HE Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to the High level Meeting on Ebola Response
UNGA, New York. 25 September 2014
Excerpt
…The current Ebola outbreak in parts of West Africa is unprecedented, both in terms of the region where it is occurring and the number of infections and deaths. Its occurrence in countries that have just emerged from conflicts and are still rebuilding their public health systems, as well as public trust and social cohesion, makes this a huge burden. It has a severe impact on health workers and women, who are at the frontline of the disease in these countries. It also adversely affects children, who are often left orphaned, with no families to take care of them.

Our coordinated and urgent responses to the crisis is therefore necessary: to provide the three countries with financial assistance, with equipment, protective clothing, mobile laboratories and other facilities, to be able to track and contain the disease, and to provide treatment to the sick in a secure environment. Most important, as a result of the severe impact on health workers in these countries, they require health personnel (doctors, technicians, clinicians, nurses) that can help with the immediate and urgent interventions.

Many organizations have shown their solidarity by being in the frontline of efforts in these countries, and we must here single out the medical professionals and health workers especially from Médecins Sans Frontières, the Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse, as well as the US Centre for Disease Control. The African Union Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA), has started deploying the first team of medical and other volunteer personnel from various African countries to Liberia. This includes medical specialists from countries such as Uganda and the DRC that have dealt with Ebola before. We shall be sending further teams to Sierra leone and Guine, but it is yet a drop in the oceans, we need hundreds more volunteers.

Secondly, we have to ensure that countries in the neighbourhood and other regions have systems in place to prevent and trace infection. The ECOWAS and African Ministers of Health, working with the World Health Organisations, since their first meetings in April this year, have already begun to coordinate national and regional efforts in this regard.

Thirdly, the disease in its current manifestations also place economic burdens on the countries concerned, ranging from fiscal strains with money having to be diverted from other causes to fight the disease, restrictions on informal and cross-border trade, as well as on agriculture. Our comprehensive measures therefore have to also look at this economic dimension and we thank the World Bank and the African Development Bank for their efforts in this regard, but we should all do more in this regard.
The recent Emergency session of the African Union Executive Council n

ted that we should avoid compounding the burden on the affected states, by taking measures whose impact may lead to worse consequences than the disease itself. It was in this context that the Emergency session called on Member states to lift all travel bans on flights and passengers from the affected countries, and to cooperate to put in place measures at borders to ensure screening. We thank those countries who have already lifted the travel ban, and urged those who have not done so to recommence flights to these countries…

IMF Executive Board Approves US$130 Million in Immediate Assistance to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in Response to the Ebola Outbreak

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IMF [to 27 September 2014]
http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm

IMF Executive Board Approves US$130 Million in Immediate Assistance to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in Response to the Ebola Outbreak
Press Release No. 14/441
September 26, 2014
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved—in an expedited decision supported by a joint statement of all Directors—emergency financial assistance to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone totaling US$130 million to help respond to the Ebola outbreak. The IMF financing will be made available to the three countries immediately, in the amounts of US$41 million for Guinea, US$49 million for Liberia and US$40 million for Sierra Leone. This emergency financing comes in addition to the assistance provided under existing programs for these countries. It will help cover part of the immediate balance of payments and fiscal needs currently estimated at about US$100 million for each country.

“The Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone has already cost too many lives,” said IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. “This humanitarian crisis could also have deep economic consequences. The governments of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone requested IMF support to enhance their efforts to contain this unprecedented epidemic that is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable in their populations. The IMF is working hard with the authorities of the affected countries and their development partners to ensure that the outbreak is quickly brought under control and to assist the economic rebuilding effort that must follow.”

The Ebola Outbreak affecting the three countries has created a significant social and humanitarian crisis, and has so far proven difficult to contain despite efforts by the respective governments and their development partners. It is also having an acute macroeconomic and social impact on the three already-fragile countries. The crisis is still unfolding, but preliminary IMF estimates indicate that growth could decline by at least 3-3½ percent in Liberia and Sierra Leone and by about 1½ percent in Guinea in 2014. Inflationary pressures have flared up in the affected countries, and significant fiscal financing needs have emerged as the outbreak has caused sharp declines in tax revenues and Ebola-related spending had to be increased substantially. Additional and sizeable budget support from bilateral and multilateral development partners is urgently needed to avoid painful domestic adjustment measures and help eradicate the disease…

World Bank [to 27 September 2014] [Ebola actions]

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World Bank [to 27 September 2014]
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/all

Speech by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim at the High-Level Meeting on Response to the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak
September 25, 2014
Thank you very much, Deputy Secretary General, Excellencies, President Condé of Guinea and, online, President Johnson Sirleaf from Liberia, President Koroma of Sierra Leone, ladies and gentlemen.I spoke to all three of the leaders yesterday, I spoke to friends and colleagues who just returned from the region, and I first want to thank all of the three leaders for their courage and determination in the face of this epidemic. But I just want to also give you a bit of my sense, as an infectious disease doctor, of what I see as the seriousness of this epidemic.I have spent most of my adult life fighting very, very complicated, difficult epidemics, like drug-resistant tuberculosis in some of the poorest countries in the world. I have been involved in the treatment of HIV, again in some of the poorest countries in the world. But I have never seen anything close to the challenge that we’re facing.The speed, complexity and the magnitude of the response that is required is unlike anything we’ve…

WBG Approves US$750,000 to prevent Ebola in Guinea-Bissau
DAKAR, September 25, 2014 – The World Bank has approved financing to the Government of Guinea–Bissau for a health contingency plan that would help prevent the spread of the Ebola virus to the country. Although it has no recorded cases of Ebola to date, the new funding of US$750,000 responds to an urgent request from the government for financing of an Ebola action plan prepared by the Ministry of Public Health, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).According to Philippe Auffret, World Bank Task Team Leader of the project, “this support is to finance an information campaign through the Government’s existing community-driven Project and finance health measures including training of health staff on Ebola…

World Bank Group to Nearly Double Funding in Ebola Crisis to $400 Million
September 25, 2014
Significant new assistance planned for hardest-hit countriesWASHINGTON, September 25, 2014—Following alarming evidence of the spread of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the World Bank Group today announced that it will nearly double its financing to $400 million to help the worst-affected countries address the emergency and build stronger health systems for the years aheadThis represents $170 million in new funding. With today’s announcement, the Bank will put $230 million toward the emergency response and $170 million for medium- and long-term projects. The new resources – which the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors will consider in the coming weeks – will be targeted at rapidly increasing the health care workforce and purchasing needed supplies in order to bring care and treatment to all parts of the affected countries. The funding also is aimed at building a stronger health care system because it will aim to train cadres of health workers to bolster care at a community level…

BRAC commits to massive scale-up in girls’ education

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BRAC [to 27 September 2014]

BRAC commits to massive scale-up in girls’ education
Global anti-poverty leader pledges to invest at least $280 million to reach 2.7 million additional girls and train 75,000 teachers by 2019
[Undated announcement]
BRAC, already a global leader in providing opportunity for the world’s poor, has boosted its commitment to girls’ education in low-income countries with a five-year pledge to reach 2.7 million additional girls through primary and pre-primary schools, teacher training, adolescent empowerment programmes, scholarships and other programmes.

These commitments make BRAC a leading partner in CHARGE, the Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls Education, a global collaborative of more than 30 partners working to advance the “second generation” of global girls’ education. The initiative was announced today by Hillary Rodham Clinton, former US secretary of state; Chelsea Clinton, Clinton Foundation vice-chair; and Julia Gillard, former prime minister of Australia, at the 10th Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York.

“We have always used an approach to development that puts power in the hands of the poor themselves, especially women and girls,” says Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, the founder and chairperson of BRAC, who joined other leaders at Clinton Global Initiative today to launch the initiative. “Educated girls turn into empowered women, and as we have seen in my native Bangladesh and elsewhere, the empowerment of women leads to massive improvements in quality of life for everyone, especially the poor.”

BRAC is already the world’s largest private, secular education provider, with 1.3 million boys and girls now enrolled in 43,500 primary and pre-primary schools and 311,000 participants in its adolescent development programmes. Formerly Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, BRAC is now active in a dozen countries, serving the poor through the empowerment of women and girls with tools such as microfinance, education, healthcare and a full-fledged university, BRAC University in Dhaka.

This commitment significantly expands BRAC’s existing education programmes by reaching an additional 1.3 million girls directly in BRAC schools, roughly 636,000 additional girls through teacher training in government schools, and 714,000 more through various other programmes, including adolescent empowerment, gender harassment awareness, mentorship programmes, and scholarships.

BRAC estimates the investments needed to fulfill these commitments will be more than $280 million, over half of which has already been raised from partnerships with AusAid, UK Aid and The MasterCard Foundation…

Global Fund Watch [to 27 September 2014]

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Global Fund Watch [to 27 September 2014]
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/mediacenter/announcements/

:: Ecobank Expands Partnership with Global Fund
23 September 2014
JUBA, South Sudan – Ecobank Group and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are expanding a partnership to include South Sudan after collaborating since 2011 on capacity-building programs for Global Fund implementers in Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
Building on this successful experience, the two parties announced in Juba they have concluded a three to five years’ agreement to formalize Ecobank’s support for the Global Fund’s work and programs in a number of countries in Africa, including South Sudan.
The Global Fund program in South Sudan is being implemented through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Population Services International (PSI)…

:: Landmark HIV Diagnostic Access Program Will Save $150m
26 September 2014
Roche has announced a major Global Access Program to sharply lower the price of HIV viral load tests in low- and middle-income countries. This new initiative creates a ceiling price of US$9.40 per test, and will reduce Roche’s average price by more than 40% in low- and middle-income countries. When fully implemented, the Global Access Program is projected to save more than US$150 million in costs over the next five years.
By increasing access to viral load testing, this new deal will dramatically improve the quality of HIV treatment services and strengthen capacity to achieve the global goal of ensuring that 90% of all people receiving antiretroviral therapy achieve viral suppression. The high price of viral load testing – is an important reason why less than one in four people on antiretroviral therapy currently have access to viral load testing…

The Sphere Project [to 27 September 2014]

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The Sphere Project [to 27 September 2014]
http://www.sphereproject.org/news/

Christine Knudsen appointed Sphere Project Director
26 September 2014
The Sphere Board has appointed Christine Knudsen as Sphere Project Director. Knudsen will take up her new position on 1 November 2014. Knudsen brings 17 years of experience…

Cast your vote in the final consultation on the Core Humanitarian Standard
24 September 2014
The third version of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and Accountability will be available for consultation from 29 September to 17 October.

Hewlett Foundation Announces $5 Million in Emergency Funding for Ebola Response

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William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
http://www.hewlett.org/newsroom/search

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Announces $5 Million in Emergency Funding for Ebola Response
Sep 25, 2014
MENLO PARK, Calif.– The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation today announced it has committed $5 million in grant funding to help contain the West African outbreak of the Ebola virus…
…Recent days have seen several large-scale commitments of funding to halt the spread of the virus, and Hewlett Foundation staff consulted with experts in government, international development agencies, and nonprofit organizations working in the region to decide where the Foundation’s funds could do the most good…

…The Hewlett Foundation’s grants will support organizations working on high-priority public health measures, including the use of mass media for prevention messages; operation of Ebola treatment centers; and community-based outreach. Organizations that will receive grants as part of the Ebola response fund include the CDC Foundation, the UN Foundation, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), International Medical Corps, Population Services International, the GlobalGiving Foundation, and Capital for Good.