Governance – Ethics: Artificial Intelligence

Major progress in UNESCO’s development of a global normative instrument on the ethics of AI
17/09/2020
UNESCO in March this year asked 24 leading experts with multidisciplinary experience in the ethics of artificial intelligence to develop a draft recommendation on the ethics of AI. UNESCO then launched a wide process of consultations to obtain the many points of view of stakeholders. This involved experts from 155 countries, members of the public (through a global online survey), United Nations agencies, major stakeholders from the sector such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft, and the world of academe with the University of Stanford and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The resulting draft recommendation was today submitted to UNESCO’s 193 Member States. Negotiations are planned ahead of its planned final adoption by Member States at the Organization’s General Conference in November 2021

The draft recommendation submitted to the international community establishes a number of over-arching concepts:
:: Proportionality: AI technologies must not exceed what is necessary to achieve legitimate aims or objectives, and should be appropriate to the context.
:: Human oversight and determination: humans are ethically and legally responsible for all stages in the life-cycle of AI systems.
:: Stewardship of the environment and peace: throughout their life-cycle, AI systems must contribute to the peaceful interconnectedness of all living creatures with each other and respect the natural environment, notably with regard to the extraction of raw materials
:: Gender-inclusion: AI technologies must not reproduce the gender inequalities found in the real world, notably with regard to salaries, representation, access, and stereotyping. Political actions, including measures of positive discrimination, are required to avoid these major pitfalls.

UNESCO will assist governments and civil society players (corporations, members of the public etc.) in developing concrete awareness-raising campaigns and ethical impact assessment tools for AI in all fields…

::::::

Outcome document: first draft of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Corporate author: Ad Hoc Expert Group (AHEG) for the Preparation of a Draft text of a Recommendation the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence [6]
Document code: SHS/BIO/AHEG-AI/2020/4 REV.2
7 Sep 2020 Collation: 23 pages

“A World in Disorder”

A World in Disorder. Global Preparedness Monitoring Board – Annual Report 2020
World Health Organization 2020 :: 52 pages
FOREWARD
Never before has the world been so clearly forewarned of the dangers of a devastating pandemic, nor previously had the knowledge, resources and technologies to deal with such a threat. Yet, never before has the world witnessed a pandemic of such widespread and destructive social and economic impact.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a collective failure to take pandemic prevention, preparedness and response seriously and prioritize it accordingly. It has demonstrated the fragility of highly interconnected economies and social systems, and the fragility of trust. It has exploited and exacerbated the fissures within societies and among nations. It has exploited inequalities, reminding us in no uncertain terms that there is no health security without social security. COVID-19 has taken advantage of a world in disorder…

…In issuing its warning in last year’s inaugural report, the GPMB stressed the inadequacy of systems and financing required to detect and respond to health emergencies. As COVID-19 has proven, these systems remain dangerously deficient and under-resourced. This pandemic has also called out the human dimensions of health security, the actions of leaders and citizens that are so critical to vigorous preparedness and response.
Our report this year highlights responsible leadership and citizenship, as well as the adequacy of systems and resources, as key factors for success. It puts a special emphasis on the factor that binds these four elements together into an effective whole: the principles and values of governance that ensure the right choices, decisions and actions are taken at the right time. It points out that none are safe until all are safe and calls for a renewed commitment to multilateralism and to WHO and the multilateral system…

…The pandemic is far from over. Some countries have been relatively successful in suppressing the virus, protecting their populations, saving millions of lives. Others have not. Close to a million lives have been lost to COVID-19. The devastating economic and societal impact of COVID-19 reminds us, yet again, of the centrality of investment in pandemic preparedness to human security, and the need to reconsider how national security budgets are spent.

We have already learned many crucial lessons that demand immediate action if we are to say with any confidence, “never again”. But learning without action is pointless, and unsustained commitment is futile. As we warned in our last report, “For too long, we have allowed a cycle of panic and neglect when it comes to pandemics: we ramp up efforts when there is a serious threat, then quickly forget about them when the threat subsides.”
Again, we say: “It is well past time to act.” And we identify the commitments and actions leaders and citizens must take – boldly, decisively, immediately, and with new energy animated by the grim recognition that inaction kills.

H.E. Gro Harlem Brundtland
Co-Chair, Former Prime Minister, Norway, and Former Director- General, World Health Organization
Mr Elhadj As Sy
Co-Chair, Chair, Kofi Annan Foundation Board, and Former Secretary-General, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In our 2019 Annual Report, ‘A World at Risk’, we warned of the very real threat of ‘a rapidly spreading pandemic due to a lethal respiratory pathogen’2, and the need for determined political leadership at national and global levels. We called for seven urgent actions to prepare the world for health emergencies:
– Heads of government must commit and invest
– Countries and regional organizations must lead by example
– All countries must build strong systems
-Countries, donors and multilateral institutions must be prepared for the worst
– Financing institutions must link preparedness with financial risk planning
– Development assistance funders must create incentives and increase funding for preparedness
– The United Nations must strengthen coordination mechanisms

Progress in implementing these actions has been limited. It is not as if the world has lacked the opportunity to take these steps. There have been numerous calls for action in these areas over the last decade, yet none have generated the changes needed. Financial and political investments in preparedness have been insufficient, and we are all paying the price.

Conclusion & commitment
The COVID-19 pandemic is providing a harsh test of the world’s preparedness. The Board concludes that little progress has been made on any of the actions called for in last year’s report and that this lack of leadership is exacerbating the pandemic. Failure to learn the lessons of COVID-19 or to act on them with the necessary resources and commitment will mean that the next pandemic, which is sure to come, will be even more damaging.

We recognize that the GPMB must also change. Our monitoring and advocacy for preparedness must better reflect the contribution of sectors other than health, the importance of social protection, and be based on improved and predictive measures of preparedness.

GPMB Commitment
As the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, we pledge to support good governance of global health security by fulfilling our mandate to independently monitor preparedness across all sectors and stakeholders, report regularly on progress, and continuously advocate for effective action.

Humanitarian Crisis: Seafarers

A humanitarian crisis at sea: all United Nations Member States must resolve the crew change crisis
IMO International Maritime Organization
14/09/2020
UN agencies and programmes involved in the maritime sector, human rights, trade, travel and transportation have called on all UN Member States, through a joint statement, to take urgent action to resolve the humanitarian crew change crisis faced by the world’s seafarers.

Trapped on their ships due to travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 300,000 seafarers cannot be repatriated, and an equal number of unemployed seafarers ashore cannot work, because they are unable to board ships.

Those on board have had their contracts extended, sometimes beyond 17 months, and are facing fatigue and physical and mental health issues. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have received thousands of urgent calls for help from seafarers and their families.

The maritime shipping sector faces a humanitarian crisis. The Joint Statement calls on all Governments to immediately recognize seafarers as key workers, and to take swift and effective action to eliminate obstacles to crew changes, so as to address the humanitarian crisis faced by the shipping sector, ensure maritime safety and facilitate economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Statement warns that the rights of seafarers, as enshrined in the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC 2006), as amended, and other international instruments, have not been fully respected by all governments, mostly importantly the maximum period of service on board (11 months) and also their rights to shore leave, annual leave, repatriation, and access to medical care onboard and ashore.
The current rise in seafarer fatigue threatens the safety of maritime navigation..

It is therefore essential that all governments urgently recognize seafarers as key workers and take immediate, concrete action to eliminate obstacles to crew changes, so addressing this humanitarian crisis, ensuring maritime safety and sustainable shipping, and facilitating economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Joint Statement outlines a series of 15 different and related measures that Governments must take, including:
:: designating seafarers as ʺkey workersʺ providing an essential service, to facilitate safe and unhindered embarkation and disembarkation from their ships;
:: undertaking national consultations involving all relevant ministries, agencies and departments, to identify obstacles to crew changes, and establish and implement measurable, time-bound plans to increase the rate of such crew changes;
:: implementing protocols for crew changes, drawing upon the latest version of the Recommended framework of protocols for ensuring safe ship crew changes and travel during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic;
:: refraining from authorising any new extension of seafarers’ employment agreements beyond the maximum period of 11 months, in accordance with the MLC, 2006; and
:: facilitating the diversion of ships from their normal trading routes to ports where crew changes are permitted.

COVID-19 Impact: Child Poverty

Impact of COVID-19 on multidimensional child poverty
Save the Children, UNICEF
Technical Note – September 2020
PDF: https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Technical-Note-Save-the-Children-UNICEF-COVID-and-impact-on-multidimensional-child-poverty.pdf
Abstract
Child poverty is more than the lack of monetary means. Although measures such as household income are important, they provide only a partial view of the plight of children living in poverty. Therefore to understand the full extent of child poverty as well as the impact of COVID-19 on it, we must look at children’s ability to access health, education, nutrition, water and sanitation and housing services.

Approximately 150 million additional children are living in multidimensional poverty – without access to these essential services – due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the analysis jointly carried out by Save the Children and UNICEF. Using data on access to education, healthcare, housing, nutrition, sanitation and water from more than 70 countries, the authors find that around 45 per cent of children were severely deprived of at least one of these critical needs before the coronavirus pandemic even hit. And although the current data paint a dire picture, the situation for children living in multidimensional poverty is likely to worsen unless national governments and the international community step up to soften the blow.

[Technical Note excerpt]
…The situation in health is a bit more complicated. Health services (whether they are immunization,
preventive, or curative) have been disrupted to varying degrees in different countries. We have
information on this from periodic country office reporting against an evolving questionnaire to assess the socio-economic impact of the pandemic as well as disruption of social services
(https://data.unicef.org/resources/rapid-situation-tracking-covid-19-socioeconomic-impacts-data-viz/).

We also have information on the determinants of the probability that children will or will not be immunized based on their background characteristics. For children who had attained the age to be fully immunized before the pandemic struck, their immunization is not taken away. However, for children who were less than 12 months of age and should have been immunized during the first half of this year, we can combine the information on service disruption and probability of being vaccinated, to estimate how many additional children should be considered severely and moderately deprived of vaccination. In order to maximize the use of prior information, this probability is combined for each child depending on whether they have already received some vaccination prior to their first birthday to obtain a ranking of children from the most likely to the least likely to be immunized.

Both the likelihood they would be severely or moderately deprived is estimated, at the level of the prevailing national immunization rate. This would yield the “pre-COVID” likely rate of deprivation. This
number is used as a baseline among the younger cohort. Then, the country specific rate of disruption of immunization services is used to estimate the percentage and number of additional children deprived in immunization based on the ranking of likelihood of being immunized.

For instance, if services declined by 10 %, the immunization rate (nationally) would also decline and the incidence of deprivation in health due to immunization would go up. For each country a range, based on country-specific data or from neighboring countries with similar COVID-19 incidence, is estimated using a minimum and maximum estimation of service disruption…

WHO SAGE values framework for the allocation and prioritization of COVID-19 vaccination, 14 September 2020
World Health Organization
14 September 2020 :: 13 pages
PDF: WHO-2019-nCoV-SAGE_Framework-Allocation_and_prioritization-2020.1-eng.pdf
Executive Summary
This Values Framework offers guidance globally on the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines between countries, and to offer guidance nationally on the prioritization of groups for vaccination within countries while supply is limited. The Framework is intended to be helpful to policy makers and expert advisors at the global, regional and national level as they make allocation and prioritization decisions about COVID-19 vaccines. This document has been endorsed by the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).

The Framework articulates the overall goal of COVID-19 vaccine deployment, provides six core principles that should guide distribution and twelve objectives that further specify the six principles (Table 1). To provide recommendations for allocating vaccines between countries and prioritizing groups for vaccination within each country, the Values Framework needs to be complemented with information about specific characteristics of available vaccine or vaccines, the benefit-risk assessment for different population groups, the amount and pace of vaccine supply, and the current state of the epidemiology, clinical management, and economic and social impact of the pandemic. Hence, the final vaccination strategy will be defined by the characteristics of vaccine products as they become available.

SAGE is currently engaged in the process of applying the Values Framework to emerging evidence on specific vaccines, and the evolving epidemiology and economic impact of the pandemic. The first stage of this process was the identification of populations and sub-populations which would be appropriate target groups for prioritization under the various values-based objectives in the Framework (Table 2), before data on Phase 3 vaccine performance are not yet available. Specific priority group recommendations for specific vaccines will be made as vaccine products become authorized for use; initial vaccine specific policy recommendations are expected in the final quarter of 2020 or early 2021, depending on timing of and findings from phase 3 vaccine trials.

The Framework also complements the principles on equitable access and fair allocation of COVID-19 health products developed for the ACT Accelerator COVAX facility.

Framework Goals and Principles at a Glance
Overarching goal
COVID-19 vaccines must be a global public good. The overarching goal is for COVID-19 vaccines to contribute significantly to the equitable protection and promotion of human well-being among all people of the world.

Principles
Human Well-Being
Protect and promote human well-being including health, social and economic security, human rights and civil liberties, and child development.
Equal Respect
Recognize and treat all human beings as having equal moral status and their interests as deserving of equal moral consideration.
Global Equity
Ensure equity in vaccine access and benefit globally among people living in all countries, particularly those living in low-and middle-income countries.
National Equity
Ensure equity in vaccine access and benefit within countries for groups experiencing greater burdens from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reciprocity
Honor obligations of reciprocity to those individuals and groups within countries who bear significant additional risks and burdens of COVID-19 response for the benefit of society.
Legitimacy
Make global decisions about vaccine allocation and national decisions about vaccine prioritization through transparent processes that are based on shared values, best available scientific evidence, and appropriate representation and input by affected parties.

EMERGENCIES

Coronavirus [COVID-19]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates
last update: 11 September 2020, 20:00 GMT-4
Confirmed cases :: 30 369 778 [week ago: 28 329 790]
Confirmed deaths :: 948 795 [week ago: 911 877]

Weekly Epidemiological Update 
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
14 September 2020
Global epidemiological situation
In the week from 7 through 13 September, there were over 1.8 million new cases of COVID-19, comparable to the previous seven days (Table 1); while deaths increased slightly as compared to the previous week, with over 40 600 deaths reported.
The Region of the Americas has consistently registered the greatest number of reported cases for many weeks. It continues to account for nearly half of the global total of cases even as cases have declined in the reporting week. The African Region also showed a decline in reported cases this week and was the only region to report a decline in deaths.
The European region reported the third-highest number of new cases, amounting to 16% of the global total, and is the region with the second-highest cumulative number of cases per million population (5 172 cases per million population).
In recent weeks schools have been re-opening in a number of countries throughout the six WHO regions. WHO has published both a Question and Answer and guidance on considerations for school-related public health measures in the context of COVID-19…

::::::

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 18 September 2020
18 September 2020
:: COVID-19 has shown that collectively, the world was woefully under prepared.
:: In its new report, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board lays out the key lessons the world must learn from the pandemic and the concrete actions we can take to protect ourselves.
:: With the right political and financial commitment and investment now, we can prevent and mitigate future pandemics.
:: This is a critical moment for countries and we ask leaders to put targeted measures in place that we know can suppress the spread and ensure that health systems and workers are protected.
:: For people also, we ask you to continue to do the basics.

::::::
::::::

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 17 September 2020
:: The Polio Oversight Board (POB) held its second meeting of the year virtually to discuss the programme’s financial requirements for 2021, to receive an update on the recommendations of the GPEI Governance Review and to consider a proposal to develop a new polio programme strategy. Read more on the meeting [10 pages].

:: When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the acute challenges it posed to both polio and immunization activities presented an unprecedented opportunity to coordinate and reimagine collaboration. Given the new context, the focus of the work shifted to develop an interim Programme of Work for Integrated Actions in the context of COVID-19 (iPOW). The draft iPOW summarizes the current level of integration between GPEI and EPI and, more importantly, identifies critical actions across key priority areas of work to drive synergies and materialize efficiency gains by building on initiatives accelerated by COVID-19 to ensure a successful resumption of all immunization activities. iPOW is open for stakeholder consultation until October 1st, 2020.

:: The GPEI established an nOPV2 Working Group to manage and coordinate the rapid and effective rollout of nOPV2. The group includes representatives from each of the GPEI partner organizations and focuses on research, regulatory, supply, communications, policy, and implementation readiness activities. Take a look at an updated information sheet detailing the structures and linkages of the Working Group.

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and environmental samples):
:: Afghanistan: two WPV1 cases, one WPV1 positive environmental sample and ninecVDPV2 cases
:: Pakistan: two WPV1 cases, eight WPV1 positive environmental samples and sevencVDPV2 cases
:: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo): nine cVDPV2 cases
:: Somalia: one cVDPV2 case and two positive environmental samples
:: Sudan: one cVDPV2 case
:: Mali: one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
:: Central African Republic: one cVDPV2 case

::::::
::::::

Emergencies

Ebola – DRC+
Last WHO Situation Report published 23 June 2020
Last WHO DON published 3 July 2020

 Editor’s Note:
After this edition, we will “retire” this special section – with great appreciation to all who contributed to bringing this PHEIC under control!

::::::
::::::

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 19 Sep 2020]

Democratic Republic of the Congo – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique floods – No new digest announcements identified
Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified
Somalia – No new digest announcements identified
South Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

::::::

WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 19 Sep 2020]
Burkina Faso [in French]
:: L’Organisation mondiale de la Santé encourage les pays de la Région africaine à promouvoir des médicaments traditionnels sûrs et efficaces 18 septembre 2020

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Angola – No new digest announcements identified
Burundi – No new digest announcements identified
Cameroon – No new digest announcements identified
Central African Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified
Iran floods 2019 – No new digest announcements identified
Iraq – No new digest announcements identified
Libya – No new digest announcements identified
Malawi Floods – No new digest announcements identified
Measles in Europe – No new digest announcements identified
MERS-CoV – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique – No new digest announcements identified
Myanmar – No new digest announcements identified
Niger – No new digest announcements identified
occupied Palestinian territory – No new digest announcements identified
HIV in Pakistan – No new digest announcements identified
Sao Tome and Principe Necrotizing Cellulitis (2017) – No new digest announcements identified
Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified
Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified

::::::

WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 19 Sep 2020]

Chad – No new digest announcements identified
Djibouti – Page not responding at inquiry
Kenya – No new digest announcements identified
Mali – No new digest announcements identified
Namibia – viral hepatitis – No new digest announcements identified
Tanzania – No new digest announcements identified

::::::
::::::

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. 
Syrian Arab Republic
:: Syrian Arab Republic: COVID-19 Humanitarian Update No. 18 As of 17 September 2020

Yemen
– No new digest announcements identified

::::::

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.
COVID-19
:: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 44: occupied Palestinian territory, issued 17 September 2020, information for period: 5 March – 17 September 2020

East Africa Locust Infestation
:: Desert Locust situation update – 18 September 2020
The Desert Locust situation continues to improve in Southwest Asia and there are initial signs of improvement in parts of East Africa. Nevertheless, it remains serious in Yemen and other areas of the Horn of Africa. The developing situation is being watched closely along both sides of the Red Sea where it could deteriorate as a result of swarm breeding…

::::::
::::::

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 12 September 2020 :: Number 333

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– The Sentinel_ period ending 12 Sep 2020

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

Myanmar – Rohingya

Joint Statement on Myanmar
Joint statement by the UK, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Tunisia, and the United States after Security Council consultations on Myanmar
Updated: 11 September 2020

[1] Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Tunisia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America welcome the briefings on the situation in Myanmar provided by UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, and Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Director of the UN Development Programme Kanni Wignaraja today.

[2] As committed supporters of Myanmar’s democratic transition, we recognise the efforts made by Myanmar’s government in the country’s democratisation. The elections on 8 November are an important milestone in Myanmar’s transition, which the international community has supported with funding and technical expertise. We underline the importance of ensuring individuals of all communities, including Rohingya, are able to participate safely, fully, and equally in credible and inclusive elections.

[3] In this regard, we are concerned by the continued clashes between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army in Rakhine and Chin States and by the heavy toll this continues to take on local communities. Recalling the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire as supported by Security Council Resolution 2532, we call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a halt to all activities that risk fuelling or escalating the situation. We also call for safe, full, and unhindered humanitarian access to all vulnerable populations and the full restoration of internet access in the affected areas.

[4] These steps are even more urgent in light of the increased number of Covid-19 cases in Rakhine State. We reiterate our support to Myanmar in combating the global pandemic and support the positive steps taken so far, including Myanmar’s public awareness campaign, the Covid-19 Economic Relief Plan, and the joint commission to coordinate the efforts of the government and ethnic armed organisations.

[5] On the situation in Rakhine more broadly, it is now more than three years since over 700,000 Rohingya refugees were forcibly displaced from their homes to Bangladesh because of violence perpetrated by the Myanmar military. In line with Security Council Presidential Statement 2017/22, we call on Myanmar to accelerate its efforts to address the long-term causes of the crisis in Rakhine and create conditions conducive to the safe, voluntary, sustainable, and dignified return of refugees.

[6] In particular, we encourage Myanmar to set out a transparent and credible plan to implement the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission and the Independent Commission of Enquiry. Furthermore, we recall that Myanmar is under the obligation to comply with the provisional measures order of the International Court of Justice. We also encourage Myanmar to take immediate confidence-building steps that include lifting restrictions on access to health, education and basic services, lifting restrictions on freedom of movement, and implementing the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp closure strategy in Rakhine in line with international standards. Moreover, we encourage Myanmar to intensify its bilateral dialogue with Bangladesh to agree a durable solution that enables the safe, voluntary, sustainable, and dignified return of refugees. We stand ready to support Myanmar in these efforts and commend the work of the United Nations system, ASEAN and its Ad Hoc Support Team and other regional partners in doing so too.

[7] We underscore that accountability is an essential part of addressing the long-term challenges in Myanmar and in creating conditions for the return of refugees and IDPs. We stress the importance of fighting impunity and holding accountable all those responsible for violations of international law and abuses, and call on Myanmar to cooperate with all international justice mechanisms, including the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

[8] Finally, we reiterate our appreciation and support to the government and people of Bangladesh for continuing to provide protection and assistance to the refugees forcibly displaced from Myanmar. We call on the international community to increase its support, including through the UN Joint Humanitarian Response Plan. We also urge all states in the region to cooperate and provide protection and assistance to refugees in line with international obligations, including as applicable international refugee law and the principle of non-refoulement.

ICC Sanctions by U.S.

The Trust Fund for Victims: US Sanctions Could Deprive Victims of Reparative Justice
International Criminal Court (ICC)
Press Release 8 September 2020
The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) deplores the recent United States sanctions imposed on two ICC officials, which may thwart the rights of victims to receive justice and reparations for the harm they suffered.

Reparative justice for victims of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community is dependent on the ability of the ICC to hold perpetrators of these crimes accountable.

The TFV Board of Directors stands in solidarity with the ICC and reminds all States and everyone that unimaginable atrocities continue to shake the conscience of humanity. Now more than ever before, unqualified moral, political and financial support is needed towards the universal achievement of the goals of Rome Statute. This must include reparative justice for the benefit of victims, their families and their communities.

[Visit the website at: www.trustfundforvictims.org ]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.  The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) is the first of its kind in the global movement to end impunity for the gravest of crimes and alleviate suffering. The establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 1 July 2002 resulted in the creation of the TFV under article 79 of the Rome Statute.  The role of the TFV is to ensure victims’ rights to reparations and assistance are realised in the international criminal justice system.

Featured Journal Content

The Lancet
Sep 12, 2020 Volume 396 Number 10253 p735-798, e25-e29
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current
Editorial
Global collaboration for health: rhetoric versus reality
The Lancet
The 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) opens on Sept 15, 2020. Being held remotely for the first time, the meeting will inevitably be dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but other issues on the agenda that have resonance for global health include the climate crisis, peace, disarmament, and humanitarian assistance. Underpinning this year’s agenda is the UN theme of multilateralism, under the banner ”The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism”. Yet the meeting comes at a time when global collaboration and cooperation are in disarray.

The UNGA is traditionally built on bold rhetoric of global collaboration and exhaustive debate over some of the world’s most intractable problems. But rather than expressing a shared vision for a common future, countries are now undermining global cooperation through rising nationalism, open hostility towards multilateral institutions, and a growing tendency to look after their own interests—eg, rushing to secure supplies of potential COVID-19 vaccines. Health is precariously caught in the middle of these tensions. Science has become increasingly politicised, with multiple and conflicted interests at play, and often little sense of solidarity within or between nations.

An immediate casualty of these opposing forces is the global effort towards vaccines for COVID-19. COVAX, the COVID-19 Global Access Facility, is led by WHO; Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance; and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and aims to rapidly develop and equitably distribute effective vaccines. Variable commitment to COVAX reflects the tension between nationalism and collaboration. 170 countries plan to participate, but the USA, for one, is opting not to join COVAX. Instead, the USA has secured bilateral deals with several pharmaceutical companies for millions of doses of promising COVID-19 vaccines. Similar deals have been struck by Australia, the EU, and the UK. In July, Médecins Sans Frontières warned that “These bilateral deals will reduce the initial global vaccine stocks available for vulnerable groups in poorer countries and undermine global efforts to ensure fair allocation”.

Insufficient collaboration is also jeopardising the Pan American Health Organization, with many member states, including Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico, withholding essential funding at a time when Latin America is under mounting pressure from COVID-19. Meanwhile, the USA continues its deeply disappointing withdrawal from WHO.

The climate emergency is another subject on which rhetoric has fallen flat in the face of nationalistic inaction. The global response to COVID-19 depends heavily on the idea of creating a better future for human and planetary health, and commitment to this approach is non-negotiable for sustainable recovery. It is disappointing that the UNGA’s formal general agenda does not more extensively cover climate change beyond the item “Protection of global climate for present and future generations of humankind”, although there is a Summit on Biodiversity on Sept 30, as well as activities across New York City.

Hopefully, the summit will also return the UNGA’s focus to the Sustainable Development Goals, which must still be met by 2030, and to defining a post-2020 biodiversity framework. An early indication that nations might work to protect health in the face of climate change as laid out in this year’s WHO manifesto for a healthy and green recovery from COVID-19 is seen in the commitment to the Resilient Recovery Platform. Launched in Japan on Sept 3, 2020, the platform is a global sharing of policy and actions to address the response to COVID-19 coupled with the response to the climate emergency, with stakeholders such as governments, businesses, non-governmental organisations, and civil society. The participation of 80 countries shows a willingness to engage in overhauling socioeconomic models towards a sustainable future. But will it be translated into action?

Global solidarity cannot be garnered through rhetoric alone. COVID-19 has brought into clear view that every person’s health is interconnected, and the UNGA is a platform with the power to reorientate global interests in such a way as to protect the health and lives of all people in every nation. The need for global cooperation has never been more visible or more crucial. Unfortunately, the UN has so far in 2020 not been able to transform rhetoric into reality. This should give pause for serious reflection. Global crises call for global responses, and we have yet to see them.

COVID-19 Impacts – Fragile States

Weakest, Most Fragile States Will Be Those Worst Affected by COVID-19 in Medium, Long Term, Humanitarian Chief Tells Security Council
9 September 2020 SC/14296
Top peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs officials warned the Security Council during a 9 September videoconference meeting* that wide-ranging implications of the COVID-19 pandemic could erode peace and push more conflict affected nations onto its agenda.

Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefing the Council on the implementation of resolution 2532 (2020) that called for a global ceasefire amid the pandemic, said the weakest, most fragile and conflict-affected countries will be those worst affected by COVID-19 in the medium and long term. “Woefully inadequate economic and political action will lead to greater instability and conflicts in the coming years; more crises will be on this Council’s agenda,” he said. “While we may have been surprised by the virus, we cannot say the same of the security and humanitarian crises that most certainly lay ahead if we don’t change course.”

With more than 26 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally, he said “the virus is everywhere”. More than 860,000 people have died, roughly a third of these cases and fatalities in countries affected by humanitarian or refugee crises, or those facing high levels of vulnerability. Indirect effects of the crisis will be higher poverty, lower life expectancy, more starvation, less education and more child death. Likewise, given recent research findings, the risks of conflict, instability, insecurity, violence and population displacement are rising, he said, adding that “the agenda of this Council, which you may think is big enough already, is set to grow; that may be one of the main lasting effects of the pandemic.”

In addition, these indirect consequences “are dwarfing the impact of the virus itself”, he cautioned. Vaccination campaigns have been disrupted in 45 countries facing humanitarian or refugee crises or high levels of vulnerability from other causes, putting more than 80 million children under the age of one at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report that food insecurity is spiking, with 27 countries at risk. More than half a billion children in humanitarian crises and fragile contexts have been affected by school closures, many girls now unable to go to school will never go back and gender-based violence is increasing as services have been curtailed.

“There is little dispute about what ought to be done,” he said. While the Group of 20 and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations have adopted $10 trillion in domestic stimulus measures to protect their populations, low-income and fragile countries do not have the resources. They rely on support from elsewhere, but only 7 per cent of the $143 billion in financing from the international financial institutions has been committed to low income countries. This alarmingly low level of support increases the likelihood of the pandemic generating dangerous long-term consequences, he said, underlining the critical role international financial institutions can play. Indeed, recent experience has shown that costs to taxpayers are minimal because the resources can largely be generated off the international financial institutions’ own balance sheets.

Turning to the response of humanitarian agencies, he said the Secretary General’s launch in March of the United Nations coordinated Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 now seeks $10 billion over the next six months to support 250 million people in 63 countries. Expressing appreciation at having raised around $2.4 billion since March, he outlined some ongoing efforts, including personal protective equipment for 730,000 health workers, information on the virus and protection instructions for more than 1 billion people in nearly 60 countries and distance learning for almost 100 million children. However, the Secretary-General’s repeated calls on Member States and others to facilitate the movement of humanitarian personnel and cargo have not been adequately heeded, violence against health workers is rising and aid workers are also vulnerable to the virus. The number of confirmed cases among United Nations staff alone runs into the thousands, and the death toll is mounting. Where possible, those who are most sick are evacuated to places where they can get good medical care, but, too often, that does not happen, he said, paying tribute to those taking extraordinary risks with their own welfare in the desire to help others…

COVID-19 – Social Protection

Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights [to 12 Sep 2020]
https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/poverty/pages/srextremepovertyindex.aspx
Latest News
COVID-19: UN poverty expert says social protection measures “full of holes”, urges global rethink
GENEVA (11 September 2020) – The UN’s independent expert on extreme poverty said in a report published today that while governments have adopted more than 1,400 social protection measures since the outbreak of COVID-19 they were largely insufficient, and warned the worst impacts on poverty were yet to come.

“The social safety nets put into place are full of holes,” said Olivier De Schutter, calling on world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York to strengthen measures to help the poor. “These current measures are generally short-term, the funding is insufficient, and many people will inevitably fall between the cracks.”

The economic downturn resulting from the pandemic is unprecedented in times of peace since the Great Depression, he said, adding another 176 million people could fall into poverty when using a poverty baseline of 3.20 USD/day. This is equivalent to an increase in the poverty rate of 2.3 percentage points compared to a no-COVID-19 scenario.

World Bank data covering 113 countries show that US$589bn have been pledged for social protection, representing about 0.4 percent of the world’s GDP. However, the expert’s report says those initiatives will fail to prevent people falling into poverty. Many of the poorest people are excluded from the social protection schemes that are meant to support them.

“Many schemes require forms to be completed online and exclude large groups of the population who have no internet access or who have only weak digital literacy,” De Schutter said.

“Some schemes impose conditions impossible to fulfil for people in precarious forms of employment or without a permanent address. Migrants, especially undocumented migrants, often are not covered. And although some schemes have been designed to cover workers in the informal sector and in precarious forms of employment, many do not.”

There are 1.6 billion informal workers and 0.4 billion precarious workers worldwide, representing 61 percent of the global workforce.

De Schutter said most of the programmes were now being phased out, or can only be renewed through parliamentary processes with uncertain outcomes. “Families in poverty have by now used up whatever reserves they had, and sold their assets,” he said. “The worst impacts of the crisis on poverty are still to come.”

Even where programs are still in place, the allowances often are grossly insufficient to guarantee a decent standard of living.

The independent expert called upon world leaders to seize the moment, by calling for the establishment of strong social protection floors guided by human rights principles, to make them more effective in eradicating poverty and in reducing inequalities.

Mr. Olivier De Schutter was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights by the UN Human Rights Council on 1st May 2020.

Featured Journal Content

Lancet Public Health
Sep 2020 Volume 5 Number 9 e460-e511
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/issue/current
Editorial
Will the COVID-19 pandemic threaten the SDGs?
The Lancet Public Health
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, provide an international framework to move by 2030 toward more equitable, peaceful, resilient, and prosperous societies—while living within sustainable planetary boundaries. As the UN celebrates its 75th anniversary and a third of the SDG timeline has passed, The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2020—prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in collaboration with experts and international agencies— tells a story of tentative but insufficient progress, and warns of the regressive impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the report, COVID-19 threatens to reverse the progress of SDG 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and wellbeing for all. During the crisis, 70 countries have halted childhood vaccination programmes, and in many places, health services for cancer screening, family planning, or non-COVID-19 infectious diseases have been interrupted or are being neglected. Health service disruptions could reverse decades of improvement, warns the report. Allowing people to slip through these service gaps could affect population health for years to come.

Even before COVID-19 the world was off track to end poverty by 2030 under SDG 1, with projections suggesting that 6% of the global population would still be living in extreme poverty in 2030. Now, an estimated 71 million additional people could be living in extreme poverty due to COVID-19. Although income inequality has been falling in some countries, a global economic recession in the wake of the pandemic could push millions back into poverty and exacerbate inequalities. The most susceptible groups are being hit hardest by the pandemic, threatening SDG 10. Similarly, the ambition under SDG 2 to end hunger was faltering before COVID-19—the population affected by food insecurity had risen between 2014 and 2018—but the COVID-19 crisis has added to pressure on production, supply chains, and household incomes, with the poorest being most affected. Access to water and sanitation (SDG 6) remains a major health issue. 2·2 billion people remain without safe drinking water and the COVID-19 crisis has highlighted lack of access to sanitation for billions.

Tackling global poverty and water and food scarcity is intrinsically linked to mitigating climate and land-use change. However, as the SDGs report shows, the world is off track to meet the goals toward environmental sustainability encompassed by SDGs 7–9 and 11–15. Most countries are not meeting their commitments to limit greenhouse gas emissions. We are in danger of missing targets to improve urban environments by reducing the number of people living in slums, increasing access to public transport, and reducing air pollution. Aims towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth, energy provision, and infrastructure development had all been falling short before COVID-19 and face considerable setbacks in the shadow of an economic recession.

The aim of SDG 4—to achieve inclusive and equitable access to education—also looks likely to be missed, with a projection that more than 200 million children will still be out of education by 2030. Most of the world’s children have been deprived of formal education during the COVID-19 outbreak—a legacy that could threaten the SDGs’ underlying ambition to leave no one behind. The world has made progress on SDG 5’s gender equality goals, with fewer girls being forced into early marriage and more women entering leadership roles. However, women’s wellbeing has suffered during the COVID-19 outbreak, with incidences of domestic violence increasing by 30% in some countries and a greater demand on women for unpaid care work.

Finally, reaching the SDGs will be impossible without international cooperation. The political tensions stoked by COVID-19 and a trend toward hardening of national borders could threaten SDG 16 to promote peace and safety from violence and SDG 17 to strengthen international partnerships.

Achieving the transformative vision of the SDGs by 2030 requires a major realignment of most countries’ national priorities toward long-term, cooperative, and drastically accelerated action. For António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, “Everything we do during and after this crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change, and the many other global challenges we face.” The intersecting challenges of health and sustainability might never have been clearer: an opportunity not to be missed.

Featured Journal Content

COVID-19 Vaccines – Development Standards/Regulatory Review/Commitments

Press Release
Biopharma Leaders Unite to Stand with Science
Nine CEOs sign historic pledge to continue to make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals the top priority in development of the first COVID-19 vaccines

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Sep. 8, 2020 The CEOs of AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline plc), Johnson & Johnson, Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, Moderna, Inc., Novavax, Inc., Pfizer Inc., and Sanofi today announced a historic pledge, outlining a united commitment to uphold the integrity of the scientific process as they work towards potential global regulatory filings and approvals of the first COVID-19 vaccines. All nine CEOs signed the following pledge:

“We, the undersigned biopharmaceutical companies, want to make clear our on-going commitment to developing and testing potential vaccines for COVID-19 in accordance with high ethical standards and sound scientific principles.

“The safety and efficacy of vaccines, including any potential vaccine for COVID-19, is reviewed and determined by expert regulatory agencies around the world, such as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has established clear guidance for the development of COVID-19 vaccines and clear criteria for their potential authorization or approval in the US. FDA’s guidance and criteria are based on the scientific and medical principles necessary to clearly demonstrate the safety and efficacy of potential COVID-19 vaccines. More specifically, the agency requires that scientific evidence for regulatory approval must come from large, high quality clinical trials that are randomized and observer-blinded, with an expectation of appropriately designed studies with significant numbers of participants across diverse populations.

“ Following guidance from expert regulatory authorities such as FDA regarding the development of COVID-19 vaccines, consistent with existing standards and practices, and in the interest of public health, we pledge to:
:: Always make the safety and well-being of vaccinated individuals our top priority.
:: Continue to adhere to high scientific and ethical standards regarding the conduct of clinical trials and the rigor of manufacturing processes.
:: Only submit for approval or emergency use authorization after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study that is designed and conducted to meet requirements of expert regulatory authorities such as FDA.
:: Work to ensure a sufficient supply and range of vaccine options, including those suitable for global access.

“We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which COVID-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved.”

Together, these nine companies have collectively developed more than 70 novel vaccines that have helped to eradicate some of the world’s most complex and deadly public health threats, underscoring their experience in clinical development and regulatory rigor, as well as their longstanding commitments to patient safety and public health.

::::::

FDA Voices 09/11/2020
The FDA’s Scientific and Regulatory Oversight of Vaccines is Vital to Public Health
By: Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., Commissioner of Food and Drugs and Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
[Excerpt]
…The FDA’s career scientists and physicians are helping to facilitate the development and evaluation of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. These professionals have globally recognized expertise in the complexity of vaccine development and in evaluating the safety and effectiveness of vaccines intended to prevent infectious diseases. They are experts in clinical trial design and analysis and synthesizing and evaluating tremendous amounts of data to determine whether a vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective. These experts are responsible for assessing the adequacy of manufacturing and the facilities where vaccines are made, which are critical to producing high-quality vaccines, and for post-marketing safety surveillance, using a wide variety of surveillance systems and data mining to continually review safety after a vaccine is approved.

The FDA is often held up as the “gold standard” of regulatory agencies around the globe. What’s at the core of these standards are the agency’s regulatory independence and science-based decision-making.  As with all products we regulate, we will follow the science and data in our decision making regarding COVID-19 vaccines. It is because the FDA is a science-based agency that we say this with the clarity of conviction. The dedicated career public health professionals who will be involved in evaluating the data submitted to the FDA in requests for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and in Biologics License Applications (BLAs) for COVID-19 vaccines are committed to decision making based on science and data. They are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, grandparents and more – and they (and their families) are directly impacted by the work they do. They are exactly who you want making decisions regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness.

No time in recent memory has shone as bright a light on the work of FDA review staff as the COVID-19 pandemic. We understand that a lot of people may not have information about vaccine development or how the FDA determines whether or not to approve a vaccine – and may not have given it much thought – at least until now.

With so much at stake, we understand the importance of being as transparent as possible about the work we do, including how we will make decisions regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The publication of our guidance was an important step – we firmly believe that transparency regarding the FDA’s thinking about the scientific data needed to support approval of safe and effective vaccines will help build public confidence in the FDA’s evaluation process, which will be critical in ensuring the use of COVID-19 vaccines once available.

An upcoming key milestone is the meeting of our Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on October 22, at which the committee will discuss publicly the general development of COVID-19 vaccines. While this meeting is not intended to discuss any particular vaccine candidates, the agency is also prepared to rapidly schedule additional meetings of this Committee upon submission of any BLAs or requests for EUAs to further ensure transparency.

The FDA has been asked what regulatory path will be used to make COVID-19 vaccines available (i.e., will there be an EUA, or will the FDA approve a BLA?). The short answer is, taking into consideration input from the FDA, manufacturers decide whether and when to submit an EUA request or BLA to the FDA. The agency will review EUA requests and BLAs received and make appropriate determinations by looking at the totality of the available scientific evidence. For a vaccine for which there is adequate manufacturing information, issuance of an EUA may be appropriate once studies have demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, but before the manufacturer has submitted all of the various data elements normally required and/or the FDA has completed its formal review of the BLA.

As we have said, these decisions will be firmly rooted in science. We are committed to expediting the development of COVID-19 vaccines, but not at the expense of sound science and decision making. We will not jeopardize the public’s trust in our science-based, independent review of these or any vaccines. There’s too much at stake….

EMERGENCIES

Coronavirus [COVID-19]
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates
last update: 11 September 2020, 20:00 GMT-4
Confirmed cases :: 28 329 790 [week ago: 26 468 031]
Confirmed deaths :: 911 877 [week ago: 871 166]

Weekly Operational Update
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
9 September 2020

Weekly Epidemiological Update 
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
7 September 2020

::::::
::::::

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 09 September 2020

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and environmental samples):
:: Afghanistan: Four WPV1 cases
:: Pakistan: Three WPV1 cases and 17 WPV1 positive environmental samples
:: Chad: three cVDPV2 cases
:: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo): 15 cVDPV2 cases
:: Sudan: eight cVDPV2 case

::::::

Statement
Polio programme accelerates efforts to respond to new polio outbreaks in Sudan and Yemen
Joint statement by WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region Dr Ahmed Al Mandhari and UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Region Ted Chaiban
AMMAN/CAIRO, 11 September 2020 – “The recent vaccine-derived polio outbreaks confirmed in Yemen and Sudan are consequences of increasingly low levels of immunity among children. Each outbreak has paralysed children in areas that have been extremely difficult if not impossible to reach with routine or supplementary polio vaccination for extended periods of time.

“These outbreaks do not come as a total surprise. In Sudan, extensive population movement by nomadic communities, people displaced by conflict, frequent movement between neighbouring countries and restricted access in some areas have made it enormously difficult to reach every child with vaccines. The cases in Yemen are clustered in the Sa’adah Governorate in the war-ravaged country’s north-west, an area that has very low routine immunization levels and has been inaccessible to the polio programme for more than two years. The last house-to-house campaigns in this area were in November 2018…

…The outbreaks in Sudan and Yemen are the first new polio outbreaks in the COVID-19 era in our region. WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region is also responding to circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus outbreaks in Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We know that when national authorities, communities and polio programme partners pull together, we can end outbreaks – just as we did in Syria in 2018. But if we cannot reach every child across these regions with life-saving vaccine, we fear that even more countries will see children tragically and permanently paralysed by a disease that can – and must – be stopped…

::::::
::::::

Emergencies

Ebola – DRC+
Last WHO Situation Report published 23 June 2020
Last WHO DON published 3 July 2020

::::::
::::::

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 12 Sep 2020]

Democratic Republic of the Congo – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique floods – No new digest announcements identified
Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified
Somalia – No new digest announcements identified
South Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

::::::

WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 12 Sep 2020]
Iraq
:: WHO Iraq frontline workers tackling COVID-19 with community sensitizations and engagements WHO Iraq frontline workers tackling COVID-19 with community sensitizations and engagements 9 September 2020

Niger
:: L’Afrique certifiée libre du poliovirus sauvage : un évènement historique suivi au N…
07 septembre 2020

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Angola – No new digest announcements identified
Burkina Faso [in French] – No new digest announcements identified
Burundi – No new digest announcements identified
Cameroon – No new digest announcements identified
Central African Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified
Iran floods 2019 – No new digest announcements identified
Libya – No new digest announcements identified
Malawi Floods – No new digest announcements identified
Measles in Europe – No new digest announcements identified
MERS-CoV – No new digest announcements identified
Mozambique – No new digest announcements identified
Myanmar – No new digest announcements identified
occupied Palestinian territory – No new digest announcements identified
HIV in Pakistan – No new digest announcements identified
Sao Tome and Principe Necrotizing Cellulitis (2017) – No new digest announcements identified
Sudan – No new digest announcements identified
Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified
Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified

::::::

WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 12 Sep 2020]

Chad – No new digest announcements identified
Djibouti – Page not responding at inquiry
Kenya – No new digest announcements identified
Mali – No new digest announcements identified
Namibia – viral hepatitis – No new digest announcements identified
Tanzania – No new digest announcements identified

::::::
::::::

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. 
Syrian Arab Republic
:: Recent Developments in Northwest Syria – Situation Report No. 20 – As of 9 September 2020

Yemen
:: 09 September 2020 Yemen: COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Monthly Report (August 2020)

::::::

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.
COVID-19
:: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report 43: occupied Palestinian territory, issued 10 September 2020, information for period: 5 March – 10 September 2020

East Africa Locust Infestation
– No new digest announcements identified

::::::
::::::

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 5 September 2020 :: Number 332

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– The Sentinel_ period ending 5 Sep 2020

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