Water
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Water Management in Fragile Systems: Building Resilience to Shocks and Protracted Crises in the Middle East and North Africa
FAO-World Bank August 28, 2018 :: 74 pages
PDF: English PDF (3.219MB
Water scarcity is pervasive throughout the Middle East and North Africa and getting worse. Even before the recent political turmoil, several countries in the Middle East and North Africa were struggling to manage their water resources sustainably and to expand water supply and sanitation services efficiently. Now conflict has combined with weak institutional performance and contributed to an intensification of water challenges and a deterioration of water services. A new World Bank-FAO joint discussion paper finds that institutional failures to address water-related challenges can act as risk multipliers, compounding existing situations of fragility. But improving water management can contribute to building resilience in the face of protracted crises.

Key Findings
THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF WATER AND FRAGILITY
· The Middle East and North Africa water challenges are intensifying. Rising demands,
climate change, inter-sectoral competition and urbanization are exacerbating the region’s age-old water scarcity challenges. In some countries of the region, poorly adapted governance structures and distorted incentives mean that these challenges are largely left unaddressed and actions and policies are not sustained. Distortions in policies and institutions have created a system that does not recognize the value of water.

· The scale of the challenge is unprecedented. Countries in the Middle East and North Africa have been at the forefront in developing practices and institutions to manage scarce water resources in the context of a largely arid and highly variable climate. However, the scale of the current water crisis is unprecedented and requires coordinated responses across institutions in many locations.

· Failure to find solutions to water challenges aggravates fragility. Water crises strain the ability of individuals and societies to maintain livelihood security and political stability.

· Fragility makes it harder to address water issues. Fragile situations – characterized by weak and ineffective institutions, histories of conflict, unsustainable livelihood systems and decaying or damaged infrastructure – compound challenges to sustainable water management.

· The compounding nature of water and fragility gives rise to a vicious cycle. In this vicious cycle, fragility makes it more difficult for water management to be effective, in turn amplifying the negative political, social and environmental consequences of water-related challenges. At the same time, as water issues are left unaddressed, their impact increases, eroding government legitimacy and destabilizing fragile contexts.

· Don’t blame the drought. We don’t claim that there are direct causal linkages between water crises, social tensions and unrest, migration, or other manifestations of fragility. But what is clear is that institutions and policy choices can mediate water-related impacts on people and economies. In the meantime, water-related challenges can amplify fragility risks when policy design and implementation do not adequately promote sustainability, inclusion and resilience.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?
· Addressing water and fragility challenges requires a move from a focus primarily on immediate, reactive responses to a balanced long-term approach. This approach would build growth-oriented resilience to shocks and protracted crises focused on sustainable, efficient and equitable water resources management and service delivery.

· Use decentralized, participatory approaches. Because of the essentially local nature of water and agriculture problems, community consultation, participation and ownership are vital, as is working with whatever local government may exist on the ground.

· Invest in innovative policies and practices. Research, technology development and transfer can provide further improvements to water efficiency and crop productivity in the region.

· Working together within countries and across boundaries is essential. Given the scale and commonality of the challenges, the relatively small size of many countries in the region and the transboundary nature of important issues like climate change and shared water resources, collective action and partnerships are essential.

BUILDING RESILIENCE: WATER MANAGEMENT TO PROMOTE PEACE AND STABILITY
· Water management is conducive to stability and peacebuilding. Water and agriculture are key to recovery and stabilization and – ultimately – to peacebuilding. Water management offers the opportunity to empower communities and, more broadly, to develop inclusive institutions for responsible and transparent delivery of the resource.

· Addressing short-term livelihood and food security needs is essential in the short-term. Building resilience in water and agricultural systems in fragile and conflict-affected situations requires both the short-term and the long-term to be considered in planning from the very beginning, thus bridging the divide between humanitarian and development efforts.

· Sustainable water management is necessary for the long-term. During and immediately after conflict, interventions need to target water delivery services and ways to improve food security. One possible way to improve food security is by supporting smallholder crop and livestock production. Working with the private sector to restore basic access to water and sanitation to satisfy basic human needs and agricultural demands is a necessity.

Education – Refugee Children

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Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis
UNHCR
2018 :: 30 pages
PDF: http://www.unhcr.org/5b852f8e4.pdf
About this report
This report tells the stories of some of the world’s 7.4 million refugee children of school age under UNHCR’s mandate. In addition, it looks at the educational aspirations of refugee youth eager to continue learning after secondary education, and highlights the need for strong partnerships in order to break down the barriers to education for millions of refugee children.
Education data on refugee enrolments and population numbers is drawn from UNHCR’s population database, reporting tools and education surveys and refers to 2017. The report also references global enrolment data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics referring to 2016.

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Press Release
Millions of refugee children going without schooling, UNHCR report shows
29 August 2018
Four million refugee children do not attend school, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says in a report released today. This is an increase of half a million of out-of-school refugee children in just one year.

The report, Turn the Tide: Refugee Education in Crisis, shows that, despite the efforts of governments, UNHCR and its partners, enrolment of refugee children in school is failing to keep pace with the growing refugee population. By the end of 2017, there were more than 25.4 million refugees around the world, 19.9 million of them under UNHCR’s mandate. More than half – 52 per cent – were children. Among them, 7.4 million were of school age.

“Education is a way to help children heal, but it is also key to rebuilding their countries,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “Without education, the future of these children and their communities will be irrevocably damaged.”

Only 61 per cent of refugee children attend primary school, compared to 92 per cent of children globally.

As refugee children get older, this gap grows. Nearly two thirds of refugee children who go to primary school do not make it to secondary school. In total, 23 per cent of refugee children attend secondary school, compared to 84 per cent of children globally.

At tertiary level, the gap becomes a chasm. Globally, enrolment in higher education stands at 37 per cent, while only one per cent of refugees have the same opportunity – a figure that has not changed in three years…

Education – Crisis Response

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UNICEF steps-up support for children ahead of new school year in Ebola affected areas of Eastern DRC
INSHASA/DAKAR/NEW YORK/GENEVA, 28 August 2018 – As more than 82,500 children prepare for the new school year in Ebola-affected areas of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UNICEF is scaling up education, health and water, sanitation and hygiene programmes to assist the schools to provide a protective learning environment for children and their teachers.

The Government of the DRC recently made the decision to proceed as planned with the start of the school year in the affected provinces of North-Kivu and Ituri, where some 250 schools are listed as being in Ebola-affected health zones.

“Education is a right for every child and essential for children to develop to their full potential. Especially in times of crisis such as an Ebola outbreak, schools are vital for children to find stability, learn prevention measures and receive psychosocial support,” said Dr Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEF Representative in the DRC following his visit to Mangina, the epicentre of the Ebola-epidemic. “Every effort must go into ensuring a smooth and safe start to the new school year,” he added.

School principals and teachers will receive training on Ebola prevention and protection, and how to educate children on good hygiene practices to avoid the spread of the virus. To ensure schools in the affected health zones are well prepared for early detection and response, UNICEF is distributing health and WASH supplies including laser thermometers, hand washing units and megaphones and prevention posters to each of the 250 schools.

UNICEF and partners are working to:
:: train school principals and more than 1750 teachers in the affected health zones about Ebola and protection measures against the virus;
:: organise prevention communication activities for parents committees and local authorities on prevention measures in every concerned school;
:: prepare teachers to sensitize all children at the beginning of the school year on good hygiene practices to contain the spread of the virus;
:: distribute 500 laser thermometers – 2 in each school – to monitor the health situation of children;
:: install 1500 hand washing units – 6 in each school – to promote handwashing and hygiene;
:: distribute megaphones and prevention posters in every school

Ebola – Democratic Republic of the Congo

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WHO – Ebola virus disease – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Disease outbreak news
31 August 2018
The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a key juncture. Recent trends (Figure 1) suggest that control measures are working. Over the past week, contact follow-up rates have substantially improved, most patients recently admitted to Ebola treatment centres (ETC) received therapeutics within hours of being confirmed, and ring vaccination activities have scaled to reach contacts (and their contacts) of most confirmed cases reported in the last three weeks. However, the outbreak trend must be interpreted with caution…

In addition to the ongoing response activities within outbreak affected areas, the MoH, WHO and partners will be implementing a 30-day strategic plan to ensure operational readiness measures against EVD are strengthened in all provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first phase of implementation will prioritise six provinces at highest risk of case importations: South Kivu, Maniema, Ituri, Tanganika, Haut Uele and Bas Uele. The main objective is to ensure that these provinces implement essential operational readiness measures, including enhancing surveillance, IPC and social mobilization to mitigate, rapidly detect, investigate and effectively respond to a possible outbreak of EVD…

Emergencies
 
POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 28 August 2018 [GPEI]
Summary of new viruses this week:
Afghanistan – one new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case.
Democratic Republic of the Congo ‒ Based on positive contacts, two negative AFP index cases classified as circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2).
Nigeria – three  new cases of cVDPV2.
Papua New Guinea – two  new cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (cVDPV1)

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Statement of the Eighteenth IHR Emergency Committee Regarding the International Spread of Poliovirus
15 August 2018
[Excerpts; Editor’s text bolding]
The eighteenth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding the international spread of poliovirus was convened by the Director General on 15 August 2018 at WHO headquarters with members, advisers and invited Member States attending via teleconference…

Vaccine derived poliovirus
The committee was very concerned by the increase in circulating vaccine derived polioviruses (cVDPV).  Since the last meeting, new emergences with circulation of VDPV have been detected in Papua New Guinea, DR Congo (Mongala) and Nigeria (Sokoto).  In Nigeria and DR Congo multiple lineages of cVDPV2 are circulating concurrently, and in Somalia, both cVDPV2 and cVDPV3 are circulating.

Control of the outbreaks in DR Congo remains difficult to achieve.  Gene sequencing and analysis has shown that there have been three different cVDPV2 sub-types circulating.  The analysis of the newly detected cVDPV2 in Mongala Province indicates the virus has emerged after OPV2 withdrawal in 2016.  Conflict and population movement within and outside DR Congo represent a risk of further spread.  The detection of cVDPV2 in Ituri Province far from previously detected cases and adjacent to the border with Uganda heightened these concerns and is an example that the virus can spread long distances.  The outbreaks of Ebola virus disease further complicates the response.

The new outbreak of cVDPV1 in PNG highlights that there are vulnerable areas of the world not usually the focus of eradication efforts.  The swift action of the Government of PNG in declaring a national public health emergency was welcomed, and highlights the utility of the Temporary Recommendations in such circumstances.

The outbreaks of cVDPV2 in Somalia and Kenya, and cVDPV3 in Somalia are of major concern, particularly the apparent international spread between Somalia and Kenya.

The outbreaks of cVDPV2 in Jigawa, and for the second time in Sokoto, Nigeria, again underlines the vulnerability of northern Nigeria to poliovirus transmission.  Routine immunization coverage remains very poor in many areas of the country, although the national emergency programme to strengthen routine immunisation is beginning to make an impact in some areas….

Conclusion
The Committee unanimously agreed that the risk of international spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and recommended the extension of Temporary Recommendations for a further three months…

Additional considerations
The outbreak in Papua New Guinea again highlights the ongoing vulnerability of some parts of the world to polioviruses. The committee urged countries in close proximity to the current outbreaks, such as Ethiopia, South Sudan and Indonesia to strengthen polio surveillance and routine immunization.

The Committee noted that the extension of the PHEIC for over four years in the context of the end game of the global eradication effort, was an exceptional use of the IHR.  The committee noted that some stakeholders are questioning whether this continued declaration of a PHEIC may weaken its impact as a tool to address global health emergencies, and specifically whether it continues to have utility noting that the risk of international spread appears to have substantially diminished since 2014.  It noted that it was not originally envisaged that a PHEIC would continue for such a long interval, but the committee feels that the circumstances of an eradication program such as polio are unique.  The committee was deeply concerned that the abrupt removal of the PHEIC might send out the wrong message to the global community and might reverse the gains made in reducing the risk of international spread in some areas.  There is sound evidence that the Temporary Recommendations have been an important factor in reducing the risk of international spread since 2014 [1][2].  The committee requested the secretariat to review whether there were alternative approaches or tools to achieve the same outcomes as the Temporary Recommendations for the polio PHEIC and report back to the committee in three months.

Based on the current situation regarding WPV1 and cVDPV, and the reports provided by Afghanistan, DR Congo, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Somalia, the Director-General accepted the Committee’s assessment and on 27 August 2018 determined that the situation relating to poliovirus continues to constitute a PHEIC, with respect to WPV1 and cVDPV.  The Director-General endorsed the Committee’s recommendations for countries meeting the definition for ‘States infected with WPV1, cVDPV1 or cVDPV3 with potential risk for international spread’, ‘States infected with cVDPV2 with potential risk for international spread’ and for ‘States no longer infected by WPV1 or cVDPV, but which remain vulnerable to re-infection by WPV or cVDPV’ and extended the Temporary Recommendations under the IHR to reduce the risk of the international spread of poliovirus, effective 27 August 2018.