Myanmar

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Letter from 58 NGOs Calling for Targeted Economic Sanctions in Burma
Joint Letter – November 6, 2017
[Excerpts; List of NGOs signatories available at title link above]
The Honorable Rex Tillerson
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State

The Honorable Steven Mnuchin
Secretary of the Treasury
U.S. Department of the Treasury

The US government urgently needs to act to help address the grave human rights and humanitarian crisis that has resulted from the Burmese military’s brutal response to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)’s August 25 attack on government posts in Burma’s Rakhine State.
As you know, since late August, Burmese security forces have waged a campaign of ethnic cleansing and committed numerous crimes against humanity against the Rohingya population, a long-persecuted ethnic and religious minority group predominantly in Rakhine State. In response to these abuses, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh over the past two months…

Despite international condemnation, Burmese authorities continue to restrict access to the region for most international humanitarian organizations, a UN fact-finding mission, and independent media. The commander-in-chief of the Burmese military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and other Burmese officials, refuse to acknowledge the atrocities their forces have committed.

We commend the U.S. government for the nearly $104 million in humanitarian assistance it has provided in fiscal year 2017, nearly $40 million of which was provided in direct response to the Rakhine State crisis, to displaced populations in Burma and refugees in neighboring countries. We also strongly support the State Department’s statement that “individuals or entities responsible for atrocities, including non-state actors and vigilantes, be held accountable.”

It is critical that the U.S. government respond to the severity and scope of the Burmese military’s ethnic cleansing campaign with effective action. To this end, we urge the administration to immediately and robustly impose targeted economic sanctions authorized under the 2008 JADE Act and the 2016 Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act…

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Bangladesh steps up vaccination for new Rohingya arrivals as measles cases rise
Joint press release
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh, 10 November 2017 – An increase in the number of suspected measles cases among the newly arrived Rohingya and their host communities in southern Bangladesh has prompted the Government and UN partners to step up immunization efforts in overcrowded camps and makeshift shelters close to the border with Myanmar.

Nearly 360 000 people in the age group of six months to 15 years among the new Rohingya arrivals in Cox’s Bazar and their host communities, irrespective of their immunization status, would be administered measles and rubella vaccine through fixed health facilities, outreach vaccination teams, and at entry points into Bangladesh.

Measles, a childhood killer disease which can be particularly dangerous among unimmunized and malnourished children, is one of the major health risks among the over 611,000 people who have crossed over to Bangladesh from Myanmar since late August and are now living in cramped and insanitary conditions in Cox’s Bazar district.

As of 4 November, one death and 412 suspected cases of measles have been reported among the vulnerable populations living in camps, settlements, and among the host communities in Cox’s Bazar. Of them, 352 cases are from Ukhia and 46 from Teknaf sub-districts, and 11 have been reported from the district hospital. Majority of cases – 398 – are among the new arrivals and 14 among the host communities. As many as 82% cases are among children under five years of age.

“Children are especially at risk from outbreaks of measles and other communicable diseases that result from the crowded living conditions, malnutrition and severe lack of water and sanitation in the camps and other sites,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Bangladesh Representative. “To halt any wider outbreak, it’s essential that coordinated efforts begin immediately to protect as many children as possible.”

With the risk of measles being high during such health emergencies, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), with support of WHO, UNICEF and other local partners, was quick to roll out a measles and rubella (MR) vaccination campaign, between 16 September and 4 October, within weeks of the start of the recent influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar. Nearly 136,000 children between six months and 15 years were administered MR vaccine. Additionally, around 72,000 children up to five years of age were given bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) and a dose of Vitamin A to help prevent measles related complication. The number of new arrivals has increased since the MR campaign, which also had challenges reaching out to all children in view of movement of people within the camps and settlements.

“As part of stepped up vaccination efforts, 43 fixed health facility sites, 56 outreach vaccination teams and vaccination teams at main border entry points will administer MR vaccine to population aged six months to 15 years, along with oral polio vaccine to children under five years and TT vaccine to pregnant women. These efforts are aimed at protecting and preventing the spread of measles among the vulnerable population,” WHO Representative to Bangladesh, Dr N Paranietharan, said.

More than 70 vaccinators from government and partners have been trained to deliver routine vaccination though fixed sites and outreach teams beginning tomorrow, while vaccination at entry points at Subrang, Teknaf, is ongoing since 1 November.

The fixed sites and outreach teams will also cover under two year olds with vaccines available in Bangladesh EPI schedule, such as BCG, pentavalent vaccine, oral polio vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine and two doses of MR vaccine.

As an additional measure, resources to treat measles cases are being reinforced with the distribution of vitamin A supplements, antibiotics for pneumonia and Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) for diarrhoea related to measles. To improve hygiene conditions among the refugee population, 3.2 million water purification tablets and a total of 18,418 hygiene kits have been distributed benefitting 92,090 people.

The current initiative is yet another massive vaccination drive being rolled out for the new arrivals from Myanmar and their host communities in Cox’s Bazar since 25 August this year. After covering 136 000 people in the September- October MR campaign, MoHFW and partners administered 900 000 doses of oral cholera vaccine to these vulnerable populations in two phases. The first phase that started 10 October covered over 700 000 people aged one year and above – both the new arrivals and their host communities, while the second phase from 4 – 9 November provided an addition dose of OCV to 199,472 children between one and five years, for added protection and bOPV to 236,696 children under 5 years of age

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 4 November 2017

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, consortia 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
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

pdf version: The Sentinel_ period ending 4 November 2017

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research
:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Human Rights – Stateless Minorities

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This is our home”: Stateless minorities and their search for citizenship
UNHCR – Division of International Protection
November 2017 :: 52 pages
PDF: http://www.unhcr.org/59f747404.pdf
Key Findings
Statelessness can exacerbate the exclusion that minorities already face, further limiting their access to education, health care, legal employment, freedom of movement, development opportunities and the right to vote. It creates a chasm between affected groups and the wider community, deepening their sense of being outsiders: of never belonging.
In May and June 2017, UNHCR spoke with more than 120 individuals who be
long to stateless or formerly stateless minority groups in three countries: the Karana of Madagascar, Roma and other ethnic minorities in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and the Pemba and Makonde of Kenya. These are the key findings of UNHCR’s consultations:

Discrimination
Discrimination and exclusion of ethnic, religious or linguistic minority groups often lies at the heart of their statelessness. At the same time, their statelessness can lead to further discrimination, both in in practice and in law: at least 20 countries maintain nationality laws in which nationality can be denied or deprived in a discriminatory manner.

Lack of documentation
Discrimination against the stateless minorities consulted manifests itself most clearly in their attempts to access documentation needed to prove their nationality or their entitlement to nationality, such as a national ID card or a birth certificate. Lack of such documentary proof can result in a vicious circle, where authorities refuse to recognize an otherwise valid claim to nationality.

Poverty
Because of their statelessness and lack of documentation, the groups consulted are typically excluded from accessing legal or sustainable employment, or obtaining the kinds of loans or licenses that would allow them to make a decent living. This marginalization can make it difficult for stateless minorities to escape an ongoing cycle of poverty.

Fear
All the groups consulted spoke of their fear for their physical safety and security on account of being stateless. Being criminalized for a situation that they are unable to remedy has left psychological scars and a sense of vulnerability among many.

SOLUTIONS
Ensuring equal access to nationality rights for minority groups is one of the key goals of UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024.

To achieve this, UNHCR urges all States to take the following steps, in line with Actions 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 of UNHCR’s Global Action Plan to End Statelessness:
:: Facilitate the naturalization or confirmation of nationality for stateless minority groups resident on the territory provided that they were born or have resided there before a particular date, or have parents or grandparents who meet these criteria.
:: Allow children to gain the nationality of the country in which they were born if they would otherwise be stateless.
:: Eliminate laws and practices that deny or deprive persons of nationality on the basis of discriminatory grounds such as race, ethnicity, religion, or linguistic minority status.
:: Ensure universal birth registration to prevent statelessness.
:: Eliminate procedural and practical obstacles to the issuance of nationality documentation to those entitled to it under law.

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Media release
UNHCR report exposes the discrimination pervading the life of stateless minorities worldwide
3 Nov 2017
A new UNHCR report warns that discrimination, exclusion and persecution are stark realities for many of the world’s stateless minorities, and calls for immediate action to secure equal nationality rights for all.

More than 75% of the world’s known stateless populations belong to minority groups, the report notes. Left unaddressed, their protracted marginalization can build resentment, increase fear and, in the most extreme cases, lead to instability, insecurity and displacement…

“Stateless people are just seeking the same basic rights that all citizens enjoy. But stateless minorities, like the Rohingya, often suffer from entrenched discrimination and a systematic denial of their rights,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

“In recent years, important steps have been taken to address statelessness worldwide. However new challenges, like growing forced displacement and arbitrary deprivation of nationality, threaten this progress. States must act now and they must act decisively to end statelessness,” added Grandi.

Health

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Partnering to Fight Pneumonia, the “Forgotten Killer” of Children
Huffington Post – 31 October 2017
We have “eradication” targets for polio, “elimination” targets for malaria, and “generation-free” targets for HIV/AIDS, but for a disease that kills more children under five than all three combined, we have…well…very little.

Pneumonia, which has been attracting less than 2 percent of international development assistance for health, and low national health funding, kills nearly 1 million children every year.

But change is brewing, driven by new leaders, new alignments between governments, businesses, United Nations’ agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and technological innovations with the potential to dramatically improve the cost-effectiveness of care in low and middle income countries.

Thirty organizations are joining forces in a public-private partnership with an ambitious, measurable goal: to end preventable child pneumonia deaths by 2030.

The Every Breath Counts Coalition will be announced at UNICEF headquarters in New York on November 3rd, at a special event co-hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and “la caixa” Foundation in honor of World Pneumonia Day.

We are all deeply concerned about pneumonia’s high death toll – each year 178,000 newborns and 773,000 children under five die according to UNICEF – and the slow rate of decline. Between 2000 and 2015, child pneumonia deaths fell by 47 percent, compared to 85 percent for measles, 61 percent for AIDS, 58 percent for malaria and 57 percent for diarrhea. We need faster progress.

The situation is particularly dire in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to a combination of low vaccine coverage, breastfeeding rates and female literacy, and high malnutrition and solid cooking fuel use, this region is home to the largest populations of children at greatest risk of death from pneumonia.

Most of the child pneumonia deaths happen in just 15 countries. Countries like Chad, Nigeria, Angola, Niger, Somalia, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Ethiopia are especially vulnerable. Focused national and international efforts to identify and close gaps in pneumonia prevention, diagnosis and treatment in these countries could prevent more than 250,000 child deaths from pneumonia each year.

Expanding pneumococcal vaccine coverage across countries is an important priority. In addition, improving access to health services and health workers and ensuring that they have the proper diagnostic and treatment tools like pulse oximetry, child-friendly antibiotics and oxygen are key. Working more directly with mothers and families to improve breastfeeding rates, child nutrition and female literacy will also boost progress across all countries. Children who are malnourished are nine times more likely to die from pneumonia.

To stop children dying from pneumonia, the governments most affected will need to lead ambitious national efforts to mobilize attention and resources toward pneumonia prevention, diagnosis and treatment, especially at primary health care level. In addition to enhanced domestic resources, countries will also need to target a greater share of their foreign health aid to fighting pneumonia, especially if they are eligible for Global Financing Facility funding from the World Bank and/or receive support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Efforts to better integrate the management of the “febrile” child will not only impro treatment outcomes, but also the rational use of drugs and combat antimicrobial resistance.

In addition to investing more to help governments with the largest populations of at-risk children fight pneumonia, the Every Breath Counts Coalition will enlist the support of existing child pneumonia initiatives, including the United4Oxygen Alliance, HO2PE, the Pneumonia Innovations Network, Stop Pneumonia/World Pneumonia Day, the ARIDA Project, the Save the Children and GSK partnership, as well as work underway by Results for Development and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. Every Breath Counts will also build bridges between the focus countries and the various innovation pipelines, including Saving Lives at Birth and Grand Challenges Canada and relevant research underway, including the multi-country enhanced community management and clean cooking trials.

Focused efforts in a sub-set of countries where children are most vulnerable are critical, as these countries will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals relating to child survival nor fulfill their obligations to the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health without a special push to reduce child pneumonia deaths.

It’s time to bring together our collective efforts and support country government efforts to ensure that no child dies of a disease we know how to prevent, diagnose and treat.

We hope you’ll join us,
Carolyn Miles, CEO, Save the Children (US)
Lisa Bonadonna, Global Head, Access to Medicines, GSK
David Fleming, Vice President, PATH
Joe Kiani, CEO, Masimo
Stefan Peterson, Chief of Health, UNICEF
Kate Schroder, Vice President, Clinton Health Access Initiative
Kevin Watkins, CEO, Save the Children (UK)

For more information on Every Breath Counts, please visit http://www.stoppneumonia.org

SDGs – Nutrition

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Global Nutrition Report 2017 – Nourishing the SDGs
Development Initiatives Poverty Research Ltd.
2017 :: 115 pages
PDF: https://www.globalnutritionreport.org/files/2017/11/Report_2017.pdf
Executive Summary [excerpt]
The world faces a grave nutrition situation – but the Sustainable Development Goals present an unprecedented opportunity to change that.

A better nourished world is a better world. Yet despite the significant steps the world has taken towards improving nutrition and associated health burdens over recent decades, this year’s Global Nutrition Report shows what a large-scale and universal problem nutrition is. The global community is grappling with multiple burdens of malnutrition. Our analysis shows that 88% of
countries for which we have data face a serious burden of either two or three forms of malnutrition (childhood stunting, anaemia in women of reproductive age and/or overweight in adult women).

The number of children aged under five who are chronically or acutely undernourished (stunted and wasted) may have fallen in many countries, but our data tracking shows that global progress to reduce these forms of malnutrition is not rapid enough to meet internationally agreed nutrition targets, including Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 2.2 to end all forms of malnutrition by 2030. Hunger statistics are going in the wrong direction: now 815 million people are going to bed hungry, up from 777 million in 2015. The reality of famines in the world today means
achieving these targets, especially for wasting, will become even more challenging. Indeed, an estimated 38 million people are facing severe food insecurity in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen while Ethiopia and Kenya are experiencing significant droughts.

No country is on track to meet targets to reduce anaemia among women of reproductive age, and the number of women with anaemia has actually increased since 2012. Exclusive breastfeeding of infants aged 0–5 months has marginally increased, but progress is too slow (up 2% from baseline). And the inexorable rise in the numbers of children and adults who are overweight and obese continues. The probability of meeting the internationally agreed targets to halt the rise in obesity and diabetes by 2025 is less than 1%.

Too many people are being left behind from the benefits of improved nutrition. Yet when we look at the wider context, the opportunity for change has never been greater. The SDGs, adopted by 193 countries in 2015, offer a tremendous window of opportunity to reverse or stop these trends. They are an agenda that aims to ‘transform our world’. Many such aspirational statements have been made in the past, so what makes the SDGs different? The promise can be summed up
in two words: universal – for all, in every country – and integrated – by everyone, connecting to achieve the goals. This has enormous practical implications for what we do and how we do it.

First, it means focusing on inequities in low, middle and high-income countries and between them, to ensure that everyone is included in progress, and everyone is counted. Second, it means that the time of tackling problems in isolation is well and truly over. If we want to transform our world, for everyone, we must all stop acting in silos, remembering that people do not live in silos.

We have known for some time that actions delivered through the ‘nutrition sector’ alone can only go so far. For example, delivering the 10 interventions that address stunting directly would only reduce stunting globally by 20%. The SDGs are telling us loud and clear: we must deliver multiple goals through shared action. Nutrition is part of that shared action. Action on nutrition is needed to achieve goals across the SDGs, and, in turn, action throughout the SDGs is needed to address the causes of malnutrition. If we can work together to build connections through the SDG system, we will ensure that the 2016–2025 Decade of Action on Nutrition declared by the UN will be a ‘Decade of Transformative Impact’.

Scientific Freedom

Statement on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility
American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS}
Adopted by the AAAS Board of Directors on October 12, 2017.

“Scientific freedom and scientific responsibility are essential to the advancement of human knowledge for the benefit of all. Scientific freedom is the freedom to engage in scientific inquiry, pursue and apply knowledge, and communicate openly. This freedom is inextricably linked to and must be exercised in accordance with scientific responsibility. Scientific responsibility is the duty to conduct and apply science with integrity, in the interest of humanity, in a spirit of stewardship for the environment, and with respect for human rights.”

Note: The AAAS recognizes that everyday science takes place in situations that pose challenges to scientific freedom and scientific responsibility. Scientists often face competitive pressures, conflicting interests, complex problems, and ambiguity in their work. Furthermore, the exercise of scientific freedom and scientific responsibility is subject to political, economic, and institutional pressures, and is affected by cultural variation. This website presents a range of different and sometimes opposing perspectives, as well as resource materials, to promote discussion in the context of everyday work. It is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive, but rather timely, informative and useful as a guide for policy and behavior and as a resource for inquiry and instruction in the area of scientific freedom and responsibility.

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Media Release
AAAS Adopts Statement Binding Scientific Freedom with Responsibility
18 October 2017
The AAAS Board of Directors adopted the “Statement on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility” on Oct. 12 to govern the organization, its members and guide scientists across the globe – the first known such position adopted by a scientific organization, according to members of the AAAS committee that developed the statement…

The four-line statement is meant to be a lasting and widely applicable affirmation, recognizing that freedom necessary to extend the global scientific enterprise requires the scientific community to adhere to and apply high ethical standards, interlocking two longstanding pillars of science…

Coinciding with adoption of the statement, AAAS also unveiled on Oct. 18 a corresponding online resource portal where anyone interested can find topical information for seminars, group discussions or references for policymaking efforts. The site provides an extensive list of related websites and foundational articles that trace the origin and development of the statement…

Drafting and adoption of the statement was nearly three years in the making. It replaces a 1975 report authored by the late John T. Edsall, a professor of biochemistry at Harvard University and the chair of the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility, which has continued its work since its founding in 1970.

The 40-page Edsall Report, as it is commonly referenced, did not define scientific freedom nor scientific responsibility and only implicitly stated that the two issues are “basically” connected – a posture largely accepted at the time…

The statement grew out of global consultations and information-seeking sessions with the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council and AAAS affiliate organizations. Multiple panel meetings were held around and during the 2015, 2016 and 2017 AAAS Annual Meetings…

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Springer Nature blocks access to certain articles in China
November 1, 2017 BEIJING (Reuters) – Springer Nature, which publishes science magazines Nature and Scientific American, said on Wednesday it had pulled access to a small number of articles in China to comply with regulations, adding that it viewed the move as regrettable but necessary.

The decision comes after Britain’s Cambridge University Press (CUP) said in August it had removed from its website in China about 300 papers and book reviews published in the China Quarterly journal, after a request from the Chinese government.

CUP, the publishing arm of elite Cambridge University, later reversed its decision and reposted the articles, following an outcry from academics, who attacked the decision as an affront to academic freedom.

In a statement, Germany-based Springer Nature said that less than one percent of its content had been “limited” in mainland China.
“This action is deeply regrettable, but has been taken to prevent a much greater impact on our customers and authors,” it said.
“This is not editorial censorship and does not affect the content we publish or make accessible elsewhere in the world. It is a local content access decision in China done to comply with specific local regulations,” it added.

The Financial Times said at least 1,000 Springer Nature articles had been blocked in China, containing sensitive key words like Taiwan, Tibet and Cultural Revolution…
“In not taking action we ran the very real risk of all of our content being blocked,” Springer Nature said.

“We do not believe that it is in the interests of our authors, customers, or the wider scientific and academic community, or to the advancement of research, for us to be banned from distributing our content in China.”…

Development/Humanitarian Response – USAID Mission

USAID Administrator Mark Green’s Opening Statement Before the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
USAID Press Office
[Editor’s text bolding]
Great, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Lowey, and Members of the Subcommittee, many of whom I served with – it’s good to see all of you again.

As former foreign policy and defense leaders have often said, and as was cited in the opening remarks, in a world as complex as ours, with our national security under greater threat than perhaps ever before, we need to be able to deploy the entirety of our statecraft toolbox. This must include our most sophisticated development and humanitarian tools. At USAID we embrace this mission.

One sign of this is our close working relationship with DOD. We currently have 26 staff serving with America’s military men and women in our combatant commands and the Pentagon. DOD in turn, has assigned 16 officers and representatives, to work alongside our staff in supporting development priorities.

In response to the recent disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean, DOD supported our disaster assistance response teams. In Syria, our stabilization and humanitarian experts are working hand in glove with DOD and State to help stabilize Raqqa and to allow for the safe return of displaced families.

But beyond this formal collaboration, our skills and expertise in humanitarian operations and international development help our nation respond to, counter, and prevent a long list of ever-growing threats. Our development initiatives address conditions, which left unchecked, can lead to the kind of frustration and despair that transnational criminal organizations and terrorist groups, often try to exploit.

Furthermore, USAID’s work responds to the challenges often arising from displacement of families and communities. We counter the conditions that often drive mass migration, including into the U.S.

Third, we help strategic allies respond to the burdens of hosting displaced families. We also work to repair the fabric of countries and communities torn apart by conflict and war, in ways that will hopefully solidify military success. In particular, we know helping the most vulnerable, and the most targeted has to be a big part of this strategy.

When religious and ethnic minorities are attacked, such as Christians and other minorities in Iraq, we rally local and international civil society, and the private sector, to join us. We don’t have all the answers to such complex problems, that’s why, in the case of Iraq, as many of you know, I am able to announce that we have issued a Broad Agency Announcement. This is a process to gather innovative ideas from the public, including the affected communities themselves, on ways to support the safe and voluntary return of internally displaced persons in Ninewa.

There are also concrete ways beyond our development role which contribute to national security. For example, USAID plays a key role in the interagency international strategy to prevent and mitigate the threat of infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, and anti-microbial resistance under the global health security agenda. As another example, we help counter illicit activities from trafficking in persons to trafficking in wildlife, which criminal and terrorist organizations often leverage to fund their operations.

Mr. Chairman and Members, at USAID, we do take our role as stewards of tax payer resources very seriously. To that end, we are taking a number of employee led reforms that will boost both our effectiveness and our efficiency. Because responding to the growing number of humanitarian crises is a core part, I believe, of American global leadership, we are working to elevate and refine our humanitarian assistance efforts. Because we don’t believe that traditional development assistance is always the most effective approach to our work, we are reinvigorating our engagement with the private sector.

We aim to move beyond mere contracting and grant-making towards true collaboration with the private sector. And that means soliciting outside ideas and opportunities in program design, technology adaptation, and even co-financing where we can. As part of this, we’re also undertaking steps that we hope will bring new partners to our work, by reaching out beyond our relatively small group of traditional partners. Because we don’t believe that assistance should ever be seen by our partners as inevitable, or a substitute for what they should take on themselves, we’ve made clear that the purpose of our assistance should be to end the need for its existence.

I’m asking our team to measure our work by how far each investment moves us closer to the day when we can explore transitioning away from a traditional development relationship. We would not walk away from our work, or our prior investments, but seek to forge a new bilateral partnership that serves the strategic interests of both countries.

To help our partners in their development journey, we will aim to prioritize programs that incentivize reform, strengthen in-country capacity, and mobilize domestic resources.

In conclusion Mr. Chairman, while our nation is facing many challenges, as you have laid out, you can be confident that the men and women of USAID are providing many of the programs and tools that will indeed make our country stronger, safer, and more prosperous in the years ahead. And we are doing so while embracing our role as good stewards of tax payer resources. The resources generously provided through this Subcommittee from the generosity of the American people.
Mr. Chairman, thank you and I welcome your questions.

Emergencies
 
POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 1November 2017 [GPEI]
:: This month Harvard University and National Public Radio (NPR) hosted an online forum to discuss how social data shines a global spotlight on polio’s last challenges.

:: Summary of newly-reported viruses this week:
…Afghanistan: One new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case, reported in Shahwalikot district in Kandahar province. Three new wild poliovirus 1 (WPV1) positive environmental samples reported, one from Kandahar and two from Hilmand provinces.
…Pakistan: Two new wild poliovirus 1 (WPV1) positive environmental samples reported, one from Sindh and one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): One new circulating vaccine derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case reported, in Tanganika province.
…Syria:  One new circulating vaccine derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case reported, in Deir Ez-Zor governorate.

:: Additionally, an advance notification was received this week of a new WPV1 case in Afghanistan from Batikot district in Nangarhar province, onset 11 October.  The case will be officially reflected in next week’s global data reporting.

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Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 20: 31 October 2017
:: One (1) new case of cVDPV2 was reported this week from Mayadeen, Deir Ez-Zor governorate. The date of onset of the case was 18 August 2017. The most recent case (by date of onset) remains 25 August.
:: The total number of cVDPV2 cases is 53.
:: Third party independent monitoring results for the second outbreak response round for Raqqa governorate have been received. Reported coverage of targeted children is 69% (measured by parental recall through a house to house survey). Market surveys reported much higher coverage of 84%.
:: Sixteen (16) new refrigerator trucks have been provided by UNICEF to transport vaccine and maintain cold chain for ongoing response activities and outreach.
:: WHO is supporting the upgrade of laboratory facilities to enable more sophisticated techniques to be conducted in country for the detection of poliovirus. WHO is also supporting the establishment of environmental surveillance in country by end of 2017.

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 4 November 2017]
The Syrian Arab Republic
:: Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 20, 31 October 2017
 [See Polio above]

Yemen
:: Daily epidemiology bulletin, 30 October 2017
Cholera:
887, 440 – Suspected cases
2,184 – Associated deaths
0.25%  – Case Fatality Rate
96%  – Governorates affected   ( 22 / 23 governorates )
92%  – Districts affected   ( 305 / 333 districts )

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 4 November 2017]
Myanmar
::  Second phase of cholera, polio vaccination begins in Cox’s Bazar for vulnerable population
SEAR/PR/1670
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 4 November 2017 – The second phase of the oral cholera vaccination drive began today to provide an additional dose of the vaccine to children of newly arrived Rohingya population against the deadly diarrheal disease. The children are also being administered oral polio vaccine.

Nearly 180,000 children aged between one and five years are expected to receive the second dose of oral cholera vaccine (OCV), while around 210,000 children up to the age of five years will be vaccinated against polio in a six-day immunization campaign in Ukhia and Teknaf sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar and Naikhanchari in Bandarban district.

The campaign is being conducted by The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) with support from WHO, UNICEF, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, IOM, UNHCR and local and international NGO’s.

“These large scale immunization drives against cholera and polio reflect the commitment of the health sector to take all possible measures to protect the health of these vulnerable population,” Dr. N. Paranietharan, WHO Representative to Bangladesh, said. “Children being among the most vulnerable, the vaccination campaign is an important and commendable effort of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and health partners”, he added.

The previous oral cholera vaccine campaign, launched on 10 October, covered 700 487 people aged one year and above, 176 482 of them children aged one to five years. 900 000 doses of oral cholera vaccine were mobilized following a risk assessment conducted by MoHFW, with the support from WHO, UNICEF, IOM and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in late September. The International Coordinating Group (ICG) on vaccine provision released OCV within a day of the Bangladesh government’s request, while GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, provided financial support.

Earlier, in a rapidly organized vaccination campaign for measles, rubella and polio, 72 334 children up to five years of age were administered oral polio vaccine between 16 September to 4 October…

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Outbreaks and Emergencies Bulletin, Week 43: 21 – 27 October 2017
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 44 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key ongoing events, including:
:: Marburg virus disease in Uganda
:: Plague in Madagascar
:: Malaria in Cabo Verde
:: Dengue fever in Côte d’Ivoire
:: Cholera in Zambia
:: Cholera in north-east Nigeria.
Week 43: 21 – 27 October 2017

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies
The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 
Iraq
:: Iraq: Humanitarian Bulletin, October 2017 | Issued on 2 November
HIGHLIGHTS
…Military operations to retake the last major territory held by ISIL begin in western Anbar.
184,000 people are currently displaced by recent unrest in northern governorates.
…Almost 62,000 people return to Hawiga a month after it is retaken, to a lack of services and explosive hazard contamination.
…Heaters, fuel and sanitation upgrades are urgently needed in camps across Iraq as winter approaches.
…IHF launches $14 million reserve allocation for Hawiga.

Syrian Arab Republic
:: 1 Nov 2017  Turkey | Syria: Border Crossings Status 1 November 2017 [EN/AR/TR]
:: Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock: Statement to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria, 30 October 2017 [EN/AR]

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UN OCHA – Corporate Emergencies
When the USG/ERC declares a Corporate Emergency Response, all OCHA offices, branches and sections provide their full support to response activities both at HQ and in the field.
Ethiopia
:: 30 Oct 2017   Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 39 | 16 – 29 October 2017
…Ethiopia begins civil registration of refugees for the first time in history as the number of refugees in country nears the one million mark….

ROHINGYA CRISIS
:: ISCG Situation Update: Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Cox’s Bazar – 2 November 2017
607,000 new arrivals are reported as of 31 October, according to IOM Needs and Population Monitoring, UNHCR and other field reports. The dataset and full report is available online.
Partners reported today that an estimated 3,000 arrivals have crossed Naf river and are currently staying in no man’s land near Anjumapara border (Palongkhali union). They are expected to continue into Bangladesh. NPM is keeping track of them and verifying the information.
…607,000 Cumulative arrivals since 25 Aug
…329,000 Arrivals in Kutupalong Expansion Site
…46,000 Arrivals in host communities

Somalia 
:: Horn of Africa: Humanitarian Impacts of Drought – Issue 11 (3 November 2017)
…DISEASE OUTBREAKS
Measles cases rise in Somalia and Ethiopia, while number of AWD and/or Cholera cases declines. In Somalia, more than 18,000 cases of measles were recorded between January and September 2017; four times the number of cases reported during the same period in 2015 and 2016. Most recently, 12 suspected cases were reported at an IDP settlement in Waajid district, Bakool region. A nationwide campaign to vaccinate 4.2 million children is planned for November-December. Meanwhile, there has been a significant reduction in new AWD/cholera cases in Somalia over the past three months, with no deaths reported during this period. To date, 77,783 cholera cases and 1,159 deaths have been reported in 2017. In Ethiopia, 3,151 measles cases have been reported and four districts in the Oromia (Babile and Jima Spe town, East Hararge zone) and Somali (Afder and Warder) regions reached the measles outbreak threshold in September…
:: Humanitarian Bulletin Somalia, 01 – 30 October 2017
…Measles cases remain at epidemic levels as new AWD/cholera cases reduce…