The African Development Bank Group [to 31 January 2015]
http://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/press-releases/

AfDB Board approves revised Resolution establishing Bank’s Independent Review Mechanism
30/01/2015 – The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) approved on Wednesday, January 28 in Abidjan the revised version of the Resolution establishing the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) and its operating rules and procedures. These procedures simplify the process of filing complaints from persons adversely affected by a project or programme financed by the Bank. They also enable the IRM to provide advisory service to the Bank.

AfDB committed to Africa’s transformation through improved agriculture
29/01/2015 – The African Development Bank (AfDB) expressed on Tuesday, January 27 its support to the African Union (AU) in implementing Africa’s commitments for an accelerated agricultural growth and transformation.

Sustainable Energy for All Africa Hub gathers partners in Abidjan to advance initiative across the continent
29/01/2015 – The African Development Bank (AfDB), as host of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Africa Hub, organized on January 26 and 27 a workshop in Abidjan with representatives of African countries and partner institutions.

World Bank [to 31 January 2015]
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/all

PRESS RELEASE
World Bank Group President: World is ‘Dangerously Unprepared’ for Future Pandemics
January 27, 2015
Kim outlines vision for private, public sectors to work together to lessen risk
WASHINGTON, January 27, 2015— Saying the world was “dangerously unprepared” for future pandemics, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim today laid out a vision in which insurance companies, governments, multi-lateral organizations, corporations and international donors worked together to build a system that would help all countries prepare for potentially catastrophic health disasters… [see full treatment in Week in Review above]

World Bank Report Provides New Data to Help Ensure Urban Growth Benefits the Poor
SINGAPORE, January 26, 2015 — Almost 200 million people moved to urban areas in East Asia from 2000-2010 – a figure that would be the world’s sixth-largest population for any single country, according to new data released today by the World Bank.For the first time, the data compares urban areas and their populations in a consistent manner across East Asia, providing governments and local leaders with a better understanding of the shape and scale of the growth so they can get urbanization right – creating opportunities for all.“ Rapid urbanization is a significant challenge for East Asia, but we cannot manage what we cannot measure,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, the World Bank East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President. “We’re releasing this data so urban leaders can get a better picture and take action to ensure that urban growth benefits the increasing number of people moving to cities, especially the poor.” Analyzed in a new report titled “East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape,,,
Date: January 26, 2015

International Rescue Committee [to 31 January 2015]

The International Rescue Committee Adds Highly Regarded Sector Leaders to Senior Team as Organization Begins to Implement New Strategy
New Leaders from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and International Rescue Committee To Join IRC Leadership Board. Team Will Play Key Role in Implementation of New Five-Year Strategy

NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 2015 – The International Rescue Committee (IRC) today announced that it is expanding its Leadership Board, adding three sector leaders as the organization begins to roll out a new global strategy. Ciarán Donnelly, who has served in a series of domestic and international roles since joining the IRC in 2001, will become the organization’s Vice President, International Programs. Jodi Nelson, who previously served at the IRC, will rejoin as Senior Vice President, Policy and Practice. Nelson currently is the Director of Strategy, Measurement and Evaluation at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And Amanda Seller, who currently serves as Head of Private Fundraising for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, will become the IRC’s Senior Vice President, Revenue.

“Those we serve need the very best,” said IRC President and CEO David Miliband. “We are thrilled that these sector leaders are joining our team and our efforts to continue to meet the needs of the millions worldwide whose lives have been shattered by conflict and disaster.”

According to Miliband, Nelson, Seller and Donnelly will assume key roles in guiding the organization as it implements an ambitious global strategy developed during the past year in collaboration with IRC staff and sector experts. Built on the organization’s existing strengths, the new strategy is designed to help the IRC – and the sector – meet the evolving needs of the world’s refugees and displaced people with increasingly evidence-based, higher-impact and more cost-effective programming…

.

Syrian refugees in northern Iraq head to the polls
Posted by The IRC on January 28, 2015
The IRC organized an election in Arbat camp for Syrian refugees to vote for representatives to address their concerns.

Ebola treatment: How to fight against the disease
Posted by The IRC on January 27, 2015

MSF/Médecins Sans Frontières [to 31 January 2015]
Selected Press Releases/Field News

Doctors Without Borders Flies Aerial Banner to Protest Obama Trade Deal
January 28, 2015
NEW YORK—As negotiators hold closed-door meetings in Manhattan this week over a secretive trade deal that could affect the health of half a billion people, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) took its protest against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to the skies Wednesday, flying an aerial banner that read “Doctors to Obama: Keep #TPP Away From Our Medicines” along the Hudson River.

Press release
Sudan: MSF-Belgium Stops Emergency Aid
January 28, 2015
Medical operations halted following government’s systematic denial of access.

Press release
TPP Trade Deal Will Be Devastating for Access to Affordable Medicines
January 26, 2015
Secret meeting this week in New York a chance to remove provisions that threaten access to lifesaving medicines.

OXFAM [to 31 January 2015]
http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases

Civil society organizations across Africa welcome AU focus on illicit financial flows
29 January 2015
Civil society organizations call for African leaders to move quickly to implement recommendations in UNECA report on Illicit Financial Flows.

Oxfam calls for massive post-Ebola Marshall Plan
26 January 2015
International agency Oxfam today called for a multi-million dollar post-Ebola ‘Marshall Plan’ to put the three West Africa countries hit by the crisis back on their feet.

Blog: On wealth, debt and inequality – in response to some criticism
27 January 2015

Critics of Oxfam’s Poverty Statistics Are Missing the Point
By Vauhini Vara
New Yorker January 28, 2015

Partners In Health [to 31 January 2015]

Jan 30, 2015
Interactive: How I Suit Up for Ebola

Jan 29, 2015
Dr. Paul Farmer: Who Lives and Who Dies
Dr. Paul Farmer writes on the inequities of healthcare funding in “Who Lives and Who Dies,” published February 5, 2015, in the London Review of Books.

Jan 28, 2015
PIH Responds to Malawi Floods with Mobile Clinic
Floods in Malawi have killed scores of people, displaced thousands, and destroyed crops. PIH’s sister organization and the Ministry of Health took action, organizing a mobile clinic to distribute basic supplies and provide medical care.

PATH [to 31 January 2015]

Announcement | December 19, 2014
Walking together for immunization: 15 years and counting
Vaccines Work | 23 January 2015
by Steve Davis
…PATH celebrates 15 years of partnership with Gavi in creating access to lifesaving vaccines and strong immunization systems that reach all children everywhere, and we look forward to continuing that partnership and to seeing global leaders stand with us in support of child health later this month. By continuing to walk together, let’s see just how far we can go.

Plan International [to 31 January 2015]
http://plan-international.org/about-plan/resources/media-centre

Country Programme Progress Synthesis Report, 2014
29/01/2015
This synthesis report draws together information and data from all of the country programme progress reports produced in 2014 by Plan International’s 50 country offices.

Lessons from Haiyan: 5 steps to improve accountability to affected people
27/01/2015
How can aid agencies be more accountable to people? Alex Jacobs, Director of Programme Quality at Plan International, shares lessons from Typhoon Haiyan.

GAVI [to 31 January 2015]
http://www.gavialliance.org/library/news/press-releases/

:: World leaders make record-breaking commitment to protect poorest children with vaccines – Gavi Press Release
Support puts Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance on the path to immunise a further 300 million children and save up to six million more lives
[Excerpts]
Berlin, 27 January 2015 – Hundreds of millions of children living in the world’s poorest countries will receive life-saving vaccines as a result of record-breaking financial commitments made today at the Gavi Pledging Conference, hosted in Berlin by German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The new pledges, totalling US$ 7.5 billion, will enable countries to immunise an additional 300 million children, leading to 5 to 6 million premature deaths being averted and economic benefits of between US$ 80 and US$ 100 billion for developing countries through productivity gains and savings in treatment and transportation costs and caretaker wages.

:: Private sector makes new pledges to support childhood immunisation in developing countries – – Gavi Press Release
Vaccine manufacturers and private firms set out commitments ahead of major Gavi conference
[Press release excerpts]
Berlin, 26 January 2015 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance today welcomed new commitments from a number of private sector partners towards its mission to immunise children in developing countries…

Global Fund [to 31 January 2015]
:: Global Fund Applauds GAVI’s Replenishment – 27 January 2015

:: Global Fund Welcomes Appointment of Eric Goosby – 26 January 2015
The Global Fund applauded the appointment of Eric Goosby as the United Nations Special Envoy on Tuberculosis.

ODI [to 31 January 2015]
http://www.odi.org/media

Repayment of sub-Saharan Africa’s bonds threatened by escalating risks – new report
28th January, 2015
The exchange rate risk of sovereign bonds issued by governments in sub-Saharan Africa in 2013 and 2014 is threatening losses of $10.8 billion – a value equivalent 1.1% of the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), says a new paper launched today by leading UK think tank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

This is because sovereign bonds are issued and repaid in US dollars but local currencies depreciated significantly in 2014, threatening sub-Saharan African governments’ ability to repay the bonds to investors, says Judith Tyson author of the report ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’s International Sovereign Bonds’.

Repayments are dependent on continued strong economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa but growth is now at risk of stalling as export markets slow and commodity prices – especially oil – plummet.

The irresponsible use of funds by some governments is contributing to the problem. Mozambique borrowed US$ 850 million for their national fishing industry but instead spent the money on military boats and equipment. Ghana has frittered away funds on public sector pay increases.

Other countries are simply over borrowing in relation to their GDP. These include the Seychelles, Senegal, Mozambique, and Gabon.

“Today’s economic environment in sub-Saharan Africa is similar to the boom that preceded the bust in the debt crises in Africa and Asia in the 90s when western governments and banks wrote off billions of pounds of debt. Today billions of dollars are again at stake, not to mention the financial stability of the region”, said Ms Tyson.

The ODI report suggests that governments be held more accountable for the responsible use of funds by national institutions, development agencies and investors so that funds are used wisely to continue sub-Saharan Africa’s economic boom….

– Sub-Saharan Africa International Sovereign Bonds Issuers and Investors Part 1 – pdf, 903.03k
– Sub-Saharan Africa International Sovereign Bonds Risks Part 2 – pdf, 2.89M

BMGF (Gates Foundation)
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Media-Center/Press-Releases

Hundreds of Millions More Children to Receive Protection against Deadly Diseases, a Chance at a Healthy Future [Gavi]
Jan 27, 2015
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced a five-year, US$1.55 billion commitment to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to bring life-saving vaccines to children in the world’s poorest countries. The commitment was announced at the Gavi Replenishment Conference in Berlin…

MacArthur Foundation
http://www.macfound.org/

Publication
Implementing Juvenile Justice Reform: The Federal Role
Published January 26, 2015
A report by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Law and Justice identifies and prioritizes strategies and policies to effectively facilitate juvenile justice system reform, and recommends an implementation plan for the Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention (OJJDP). The MacArthur-supported report provides specific guidance to OJJDP regarding the steps that it could take to enable reform that is grounded in knowledge about adolescent development. It identifies seven hallmarks of a developmental approach to juvenile justice to guide system reform: accountability without criminalization, alternatives to justice system involvement, individualized response based on needs and risks, confinement only when necessary for public safety, genuine commitment to fairness, sensitivity to disparate treatment, and family engagement.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
http://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/newsroom/news-releases.html

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Awards IHI $4.8 Million to Help Communities Become National and Global Models of Health
January 29, 2015 | News Release
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded a $4.8 million grant to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to help communities develop capability to improve health and to spread effective community-driven approaches.

BMC Health Services Research
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmchealthservres/content
(Accessed 31 January 2015)

Research article
Innovation in health service delivery: integrating community health assistants into the health system at district level in Zambia
Joseph Zulu, Anna-Karin Hurtig, John Kinsman, Charles Michelo BMC Health Services Research 2015, 15:38 (28 January 2015)

Research article
‘Deep down in their heart, they wish they could be given some incentives’: a qualitative study on the changing roles and relations of care among home-based caregivers in Zambia
Fabian Cataldo, Karina Kielmann, Tara Kielmann, Gitau Mburu, Maurice Musheke BMC Health Services Research 2015, 15:36 (28 January 2015)