Humanitarian Response – Global COVID-19 Plan

UN and partners release record Humanitarian Response Plan as Covid-19 wreaks havoc
:: 235 million people worldwide will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2021 – an increase of 40 per cent in a year.
:: UN-coordinated response plans presented today aim to reach 160 million of those most in need of life-saving support. The estimated cost is $35 billion.
:: Fifty-six countries affected by humanitarian crises and the fallout of the pandemic are included. The :: UN Secretary-General calls on the world to “stand with people in their darkest hour of need”.

(Geneva, 1 December 2020) – The shock of COVID-19 has pushed the number of people who need humanitarian assistance worldwide to a record high – up by 40 per cent compared to the same time last year.

If all those who will need humanitarian aid next year lived in one country, it would be the world’s fifth largest nation, with a population of 235 million.

The UN and its partners aim to help 160 million of the most vulnerable people who face hunger, conflict, displacement, and the impacts of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local and global humanitarian organizations stand ready to save lives and livelihoods and respond to the special needs of women and children as well as people with disabilities and mental health needs. They need solidarity and funding from the rest of the world.

The Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) 2021 sets out 34 response plans covering 56 vulnerable countries. It is presented today in Geneva at an event with opening remarks from UN Secretary-General António Guterres and UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, and the participation of donor representatives and national and international NGOs. Subsequent presentations will take place on the same day in Berlin, Brussels, London and Washington, D.C.

“The humanitarian system again proved its worth in 2020, delivering food, medicines, shelter, education and other essentials to tens of millions of people,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“But the crisis is far from over. Humanitarian aid budgets face dire shortfalls as the impact of the global pandemic continues to worsen. Together, we must mobilize resources and stand in solidarity with people in their darkest hour of need.”…

UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said: “The rich world can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. The same is not true in the poorest countries. The COVID-19 crisis has plunged millions of people into poverty and sent humanitarian needs skyrocketing. Next year we will need $35 billion to stave off famine, fight poverty, and keep children vaccinated and in school.

“A clear choice confronts us. We can let 2021 be the year of the grand reversal – the unravelling of 40 years of progress – or we can work together to make sure we all find a way out of this pandemic.”

International donors gave a record $17 billion in 2020 for collective humanitarian response. Data shows that 70 per cent of the people targeted for aid were reached, an increase compared to 2019. But as needs are rising, funding remains less than half of what the UN and partner organizations asked for. Next year, the estimated cost of response is $35 billion.

Note to Editors
1 . The GHO 2021 includes country-specific plans for Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Haiti, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Mozambique (new), Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, occupied Palestinian territories, Pakistan (new), Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe (new).
2 . The GHO 2021 also has the following regional inter-agency plans: DRC Regional Refugee Response Plan, South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan, Syria Regional Refugee Response Plan (Syria 3RP), Rohingya Joint Response Plan, Venezuela Regional Migrant and Refugee Plan, and the Regional Migrant Plan for the Horn of Africa and Yemen (new). The GHO includes 34 response plans covering 56 countries in total.
3 . Details on all launch events are available on OCHA’s website.

Education – COVID Opportunities

Realizing the Future of Learning: From Learning Poverty to Learning for Everyone, Everywhere – Report
World Bank
Authors: Saavedra Chanduvi, Jaime Aedo Inostroza, Mario Cristian Arias Diaz, Omar S.
December 2020:72 pages
PDF: http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/250981606928190510/pdf/Realizing-the-Future-of-Learning-From-Learning-Poverty-to-Learning-for-Everyone-Everywhere.pdf
Overview
:: Too many education systems are not delivering even basic skills for all children, let alone preparing them for the demanding world they will live in as adults.

:: Urgent action is needed to realize a new vision for education: one in which learning happens for everyone, everywhere.

:: The COVID-19 crisis has further exposed the weaknesses of education systems around the world and underlined the urgency to act. Simulations by the World Bank show that the learning poverty rate might increase by 10 points, from 53% to 63% in low- and middle-income countries.

:: This report describes the World Bank’s vision for the future of learning and a strategic approach that lays out the lines of actions needed for education systems to move forward in accelerating learning improvement.

:: COVID-19 pandemic response has opened a window of opportunity for educational systems to move to a path of accelerated progress. It is now possible to bring forward to today elements that many would have thought are part of the future of learning.

:: A vision of this future should guide today’s investments and policy reforms so that countries can lay the foundations for effective, equitable, and resilient education systems.

:: To guide our policy advisory and operational support to countries, the report discusses policy actions that are needed to accelerate learning and that characterize the way many successful systems operate.

:: These are presented within five interrelated pillars of a well-functioning education system that underpin the World Bank’s strategic education policy approach: learners, teachers, learning resources, schools, and system management.

:: Countries can chart their own path with a political commitment to carry out investments and reforms in five pillars that ensure that:
[1] Learners are prepared and motivated to learn—with a stronger emphasis on whole-child development and support to learning continuity beyond the school.

[2] Teachers are effective and valued—and ready to take on an increasingly complex role of facilitators of learning at and beyond the school with use of education technology.

[3] Learning resources, including curricula, are diverse and high-quality—to support good pedagogical practices and personalized learning.

[4] Schools are safe and inclusive spaces—with a whole-and-beyond-the-school approach to prevent and address violence and leave no child behind.

[5] Education systems are well-managed—with school leaders who spur more effective pedagogy and a competent educational bureaucracy adept at using technology, data, and evidence.

Media Release
Pandemic Threatens to Push 72 Million More Children into Learning Poverty—World Bank outlines a New Vision to ensure that every child learns, everywhere
December 2, 2020

Education

Let’s break silos now! Achieving disability-inclusive education in a post-COVID world
Handicap International – Humanity & Inclusion
Report :: November 2020 :: 52 pages
Credits: Humanity & Inclusion editorial committee (in alphabetical order): Aurélie Beaujolais, Blandine Bouniol, Francesca Piatta, Julia McGeown, Sandra Boisseau, Sandrine Bohan Jacquot, and Valentina Pomatto. Production of this report was coordinated by Valentina Pomatto. Proofread by Julia McGeown. Edited by Lucy Hillier.
PDF: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Break_Silos_Now_Inclusive_Education_in_a_post-Covid_world.pdf
[Excerpts]
Disability-inclusive education – an urgent call for renewed action
A world where inclusive education can flourish is also a world that can nurture inclusive societies. Inclusive learning environments consider diversity an asset and, accordingly, they cater for the different needs of all learners, so that they learn, grow and thrive together. Working towards this vision is critical for reducing the vast levels of inequality and discrimination currently faced by millions of persons across the globe. This is especially so for the millions of children with disabilities, many of whom struggle to receive even the most basic of educations.

The exclusion of learners with disabilities from education is due to many reasons, including inaccessible school facilities, a lack of assistive technologies, poor health, prejudice, discrimination and stigma. The interconnected and complex nature of achieving inclusive, quality education for all therefore requires stakeholders to break with siloed approaches and to work collaboratively across economic, social, cultural and protection sectors and domains.

Global progress in building inclusive education systems is now threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has severely disrupted the educations of most children, and has seen funds diverted away from the education sector. Despite this setback, governments and the global community are now in a unique position to learn from the pandemic and to renew efforts to improve education…

Building multi-sectoral, disability-inclusive education systems: key considerations
Putting children at the centre. The needs and meaningful participation of the child should be the starting point when developing inclusive education approaches.

Twin-track. This two-pronged strategy ensures that the mainstream education systems (and other sectors supporting education) become more inclusive, while children with disabilities are empowered to succeed by being provided with any additional necessary and specific supports related to their individual needs. Twin-track education strategies are designed to leave no child behind while education systems take steps to become fully inclusive.

Collaboration with civil society and non-governmental organisations. Strong collaboration with this sector is crucial. Organisations of persons with disabilities, as well as parents and other stakeholders, have been at the forefront of advocacy for better education. Organisations are also key service providers for persons with disabilities, helping fill the gaps in public service provision.

Enhancing cooperation and coordination between central and local authorities. Many countries have moved to decentralise education decision-making and spending to sub-national levels. Effective, well-coordinated decentralisation strategies have the potential to improve the quality of education services and to use education resources more efficiently.

Connected, interagency service delivery for maximised returns. When services are available as part of a comprehensive and integrated package and can be easily accessed through a single service point, they are more likely to be taken up. This has significant benefit for children with complex needs, including those with disabilities. Services offered in this way are also more cost-effective.

Collecting more, and better, data on disability. Improving data is a priority for effective disability-inclusive education strategies and frameworks. The “Washington Group Short Set of Questions” and the “Child Functioning Module” are robust and valuable tools which should be used to collect disability-disaggregated data.

Exploring strategies to include the youngest children. Truly inclusive education systems also need to include younger children, aged 0-8 years old. Currently, young children with disabilities are often excluded from early childhood development policy and programmes.

Milestones :: Perspectives :: Research

Ending the Covid-19 pandemic: The need for a global approach
Report – Eurasia Group COMMISSIONED BY THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
25 NOVEMBER 2020 Publication date: 3 December 2020 :: 3 pages
PDF: https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/act-accelerator/2020-summary-analysis-of-ten-donor-countries-11_26_2020-v2.pdf?sfvrsn=6d6f630c_5&download=true

executive summary
:: Eurasia Group’s analysis suggests that leaving low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs) to fend for themselves amid the Covid-19 pandemic will cause significant economic damage that puts decades of economic progress at risk.
:: The Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (Act-A) program is the only “end-to-end,” complete global solution – across tests, treatments, and vaccines – for tackling the pandemic. The world needs strong leadership and international cooperation to make this program a success. The Act-A program needs $38 billion in funding, of which $28.2 billion is still currently outstanding. Without contributions from advanced economies to fill that gap, Act-A will not be able to provide LLMICs with the life-saving tests, treatments, and vaccines they need.

:: Rapid, widespread, and equitable vaccination, tests, and treatments will save countless lives in LLMICs, allowing policymakers’ focus to return to the core development goals of raising living standards, empowering women, and marginalized communities, and strengthening institutions.
:: There is also a clear self-interested case for advanced economies to contribute to Act-A, and in particular, to the Gavi Covax-Advance Market Commitment (AMC), which aims to secure doses of Covid-19 vaccines for 92 LLMICs through the Covax Facility.

:: On the basis of the IMF’s October 2020 World Economic Outlook forecasts, Eurasia Group has estimated selected industry-level impacts for ten donor economies to quantify the economic impact of equitable vaccine distribution to Covax-AMC-eligible LLMICs. The US, the UK, Germany, Japan, and France were chosen based on their track record as the five largest donors in the world; Canada, Qatar, South Korea, Sweden, and the UAE were chosen to provide broader coverage across geographies and donor profiles.

:: This analysis suggests that the economic benefits of an equitable vaccine solution accrued by these ten donor countries alone would be at least $153 billion in 2020-21 (at constant exchange rates). Over the next five years, this sum rises to a cumulative $466 billion, more than 12 times the $38 billion total estimated cost of the Act-A program.

:: Apart from the clear economic benefits, each country involved stands to gain geopolitically—not only by taking a leading role in a coordinated multilateral response to Covid-19, but also by promoting prosperity and stability in the potential growth economies of the future.

3 December 2020 Joint News Release
Global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines estimated to generate economic benefits of at least US$ 153 billion in 2020–21, and US$ 466 billion by 2025, in 10 major economies, according to new report by the Eurasia Group

EMERGENCIES

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

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates
Last update: 5 December 2020, 9:02 am GMT-5
Confirmed cases :: 65 257 767 [week ago: 61 299 371] [two weeks ago: 57 274 018]
Confirmed deaths :: 1 513 179 [week ago: 1 439 784] [two weeks ago: 1 368 000]
Countries, areas or territories with cases :: 220

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WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 30 November 2020
:: Last week saw the first decline in newly-reported cases globally since September. This is no time for complacency, especially with the holiday season approaching in many cultures and countries.
:: The COVID-19 pandemic will change the way we celebrate, but it doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate. The changes you make will depend on where you live. Always follow your local or national guidelines.
:: Tomorrow is World AIDS Day. New HIV infections have declined by 23% since 2010, and AIDS-related deaths have fallen by 39%.
:: A record 26 million people are on antiretroviral treatment – but the pace of increase has slowed, and that leaves 12 million people who are living with HIV but are not on treatment. That gap is jeopardising our goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

::::::

Weekly epidemiological update – 1 December 2020
Overview
Globally in the past week, cases of COVID-19 have remained at approximately 4 million new cases, while new deaths have continued to increase to over 69 000. This brings the cumulative numbers to over 61.8 million reported cases and 1.4 million deaths globally since the start of the pandemic.

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

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 02 December 2020
:: One of the largest polio immunization campaigns in the African Region this year has just concluded in Chad, where over 3.3 million children in 91 districts were vaccinated. This pushes the total number of children vaccinated against polio to over forty million across 16 countries in the Region, since campaigns resumed following a necessary pause in immunizations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES postitives):
:: Pakistan: one WPV1 case, 13 WPV1 positive environmental samples and five cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
:: Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo): five cVDPV2 cases
:: Mali: two cVDPV2 cases

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

Editor’s Note:
A number of country pages below did not load at inquiry.

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 05 Dec 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 05 Dec 2020]
Iraq
:: Baghdad, 30 November 2020 – On Sunday, Iraqi health authorities, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF began a mass polio vaccination campaign targeting more than 1.9 million children under the age of 5…

Angola
:: Battling COVID-19 rumours and hoaxes in Angola 03 December 2020

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Burkina Faso – 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
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 05 Dec 2020]

Chad – No new digest announcements identified
Djibouti – No new digest announcements identified
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

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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. 
Syrian Arab Republic
:: Syrian Arab Republic: COVID-19 Humanitarian Update No. 21 As of 30 November 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 (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update (1 December 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 28 November 2020 :: Number 343

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 28 Nov 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

World Has Moral Obligation to Ensure Future Generations Not Burdened by Mountain of Debt on Broken Planet, Secretary-General Tells G20 Summit
22 November 2020 SG/SM/20440
Following are UN Secretary General António Guterres’ remarks, as delivered, to the Group of 20 (G20) Riyadh Summit Session II: Building an Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Future, today:

Our greatest defence against COVID 19 is solidarity and cooperation. In this context, G20 leadership is vital in three key areas.

First, halting the further spread of the pandemic. Yesterday, I was encouraged by the broad recognition that vaccines – as well as tests and treatments – must be global public goods, available and affordable for all.

But I want to repeat the call on G20 members to support the ACT Accelerator and its COVAX facility. There is a financial gap of $28 billion and we need $4.2 billion of that immediately for mass manufacturing, procurement and distribution around the world.

Second, mobilizing the resources to build forward better. The initiative I took with the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID 19 and Beyond puts forward an array of concrete policy options. I urge you to consider these in shaping solutions. There will be no different and better future without stronger action now to provide the necessary liquidity and tackle the debt emergency of the most vulnerable.

It means strengthening the firepower of the IMF [International Monetary Forum] and other international financial institutions in support of the developing world, including through a new issuance of special drawing rights and the reallocation of unused SDRs [special drawing rights]. It means broadening the eligibility of the G20 debt initiatives to all vulnerable developing countries, including the middle income ones that need it. It means building a global architecture to enhance debt transparency and sustainability.

Third, aligning recovery efforts with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change. To build an inclusive, resilient and sustainable post COVID world, public spending must be linked with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
And we have a moral obligation to ensure that the trillions of dollars for COVID 19 recovery – money that we are borrowing from future generations – does not leave them burdened by a mountain of debt on a broken planet. The recovery must help to reconcile humankind and nature on all fronts – from climate to biodiversity, from protecting the oceans to stopping deforestation and land degradation.

A growing number of countries have pledged carbon neutrality by 2050: good news. By early next year, countries representing more than 65 per cent of global emissions – and more than 70 per cent of the world economy – are very likely to have made ambitious commitments to carbon neutrality. I urge all G20 members to join the global coalition for net zero greenhouse gas emissions – and act now to set a clear direction.

I firmly believe we all must put a price on carbon. End fossil fuel subsidies. Stop construction of new coal power plants. Invest in resilient infrastructure. Shift the tax burden from income to carbon, from taxpayers to polluters. Ensure mandatory financial reporting on exposure to climate risks. Integrate the goal of carbon neutrality into all economic and fiscal policies and decisions. Implement the necessary measures – such as social protection and reskilling – for a just transition towards decent jobs. And meaningful increases to the support to developing countries for resilience and adaptation.

The pandemic has revealed the enormous fragilities of our world; the absence of effective universal health care, shocking inequalities that undermine the social cohesion of our societies, the climate disruption and lawlessness in the cyberspace.

We must be humble. We must recognize these fragilities and make sure our recovery strategies are designed to overcome them. This is critical to achieving a resilient, inclusive and sustainable future, where women and youth are empowered, and all people can enjoy the full respect of their human rights on a healthy planet. We can only get there together, committed to an inclusive multilateralism based on international law and the values of the UN Charter.

Development – Aid Budget Thresholds/Commitments

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office  [nee DFID] [to 28 Nov 2020]
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office
Selected Press Releases. Announcements
Changes to the UK’s aid budget in the Spending Review
26 November 2020 — Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
UK aid will be overhauled to achieve greater impact.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced, as part of the Spending Review, a temporary reduction in the UK’s aid budget from 0.7% to 0.5% of our national income.

The seismic impact of the pandemic on the UK economy has forced the government to take tough but necessary decisions, including this temporary reduction in the overall amount we spend on aid. We will return to 0.7% when the fiscal situation allows.

The UK government remains a world leading aid donor spending 0.5% of our national income. We will spend more than £10 billion next year to fight poverty, tackle climate change and improve global health.

We will do aid better across government, even if the budget is smaller, to deliver maximum impact for every pound we spend.

We will combine aid with diplomacy, focusing our efforts where the UK can make a world-leading difference ensuring the UK is a force for good across the globe.

In a statement to the House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary set out how we will overhaul UK aid to deliver even greater impact by focussing on 7 global challenges where it can make the most difference:

:: climate change and biodiversity: a greener and cleaner path to growth in developing countries

:: COVID and global health security: combat COVID-19 and support healthier and more resilient populations in developing countries

:: girls’ education: a global commitment to get 40 million girls into education and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10

:: science, research, technology: deliver cutting edge technology and research-led solutions in health, education, resilience, low carbon technologies, agriculture and economic development, conflict and poverty

:: open societies and conflict resolution: strengthen democratic institutions, human rights, free media and effective governance

:: humanitarian preparedness and response: Lead stronger collective international response to crises and famine

:: trade and economic development: build trading and investment partners of the future

We will prioritise what we spend aid on and where we spend it. Spending will also be subject to a new and rigorous performance assessment.

Governance Responsibility – International Humanitarian/Human Rights Law

Humanitarian diplomacy and protection advocacy in an age of caution
ODI Briefing papers | November 2020 | Mark Bowden and Victoria Metcalfe-Hough
Exploring to what extent UN leaders are fulfilling their responsibility to promote greater compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law.
PDF: Humanitarian diplomacy and protection advocacy in an age of caution

Since the United Nations (UN) came into existence 75 years ago, its Charter has tasked it with promoting ‘international peace and security’, including through the ‘pacific settlement of disputes’. Mediation and coordinating diplomatic efforts to secure peace are therefore two of the organisation’s core functions.

UN leaders have a unique role and responsibility to enhance the protection of civilians affected by war and to promote greater compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law. However, there have been increasing concerns that, due to both internal and external factors, UN organisations and leaders have become more cautious in their engagement with conflict parties and third-party states on protection issues.

This briefing note seeks to understand to what extent senior UN leaders are fulfilling their responsibilities in this respect, to explore the extent of and reasons for a more cautious approach and to identify what factors inhibit the effectiveness of their engagement with conflict actors on protection issues.

Key messages
:: United Nations humanitarian and political leaders have a key role in promoting respect for international humanitarian and human rights law by all conflict parties and should be held accountable for delivering on this task.

:: Lack of clarity on the different roles and responsibilities of UN entities and leaders, and a failure to harness the organisation’s multidisciplinary capacities and authority, inhibit more robust engagement by UN leaders with conflict parties and third-party states on their responsibilities to protect civilians.

:: UN leaders that do undertake ‘protection advocacy’ are not given adequate political or technical support – they are challenged by a still-fragmented UN system, competing and incomplete analyses, an overly technocratic approach to protection and little political backing from headquarters.

:: More effective protection advocacy by UN leaders requires a more coherent culture of protection across the organisation, including clarification of roles and responsibilities and strengthened tools and capacities for engaging conflict parties.

:: Ultimately, UN leaders will only be effective in their advocacy with conflict parties if they are supported by member states. Member states have tasked UN leaders to speak up on behalf of victims of armed conflict – they must end this ‘age of caution’ and provide the diplomatic and other support UN leaders need to fulfil this critical task.

Health – “Counter-Terrorism Medicine”

Prehospital & Disaster Medicine
Volume 35 – Issue 6 – December 2020
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/prehospital-and-disaster-medicine/latest-issue
Guest Editorial
Counter-Terrorism Medicine: Creating a Medical Initiative Mandated by Escalating Asymmetric Attacks
Michael Court, Brydie Edwards, Fadi Issa, Amalia Voskanyan, Gregory Ciottone
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2020, pp. 595-598
Abstract
Introduction:
Since 2001, a burgeoning interest by health care professionals in the growing asymmetrical terrorist threat and its impact on health care preparation and response has seen significantly increased academic output around this nebulous subject. Despite this, there has failed to be a consolidation of this sub-specialty.
Discussion:
This editorial argues for the consolidation of the body of experience gathered since 2001 into an initiative called Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM). It proposes that previously discrete sub-specialty areas can be consolidated, with improvements in collective understanding, and can build on previous work to provide a non-political health care focused definition of terrorist events, based on the triad of Violence, Intent, and Heath Care Impact. It notes the importance this defining triad has in health care planning and response considerations. Finally, it defines the parameters of CTM within the larger specialty of Disaster Medicine (DM).
Conclusion:
There is a growing body of academic work on the health care implications of terrorism. The time is right to coalesce these into an initiative referred to as CTM and to consider this as a discrete part of DM.

Governance Standards – Guidance on Social Responsibility

10 years of ISO 26000 leading social responsibility
November 2020 marks ten years since the publication of a ground-breaking International Standard for social responsibility.
By Barnaby Lewis on 27 November 2020

The development of ISO 26000 was a standardization project of unusually large scope, representing an ambitious addition to a catalogue of standards addressing environmental management and sustainability. That journey began with ISO 14001, which further broadened the scope of ISO’s work from the industrial, technical and quality standards for which it’s best known. Wide participation was integral to the concept of developing a new International Standard that could be applied to almost every sector imaginable.

The result was a specialized project committee that would draw on the combined knowledge and input of more than 500 global experts. Around 80 countries contributed, together with bodies like the International Organization of Employers and consumer groups. When it was published in November 2010, ISO 26000 set new firsts, both for consensus building in standardization, and a comprehensive set of guidelines that increased engagement and recognition of social responsibility…

To ensure consistency around the time of its launch, ISO entered into special agreements with the ILO, the Global Compact, the GRI and the OECD. As a result, ISO 26000 was probably the most inclusive sustainability standard for the issues it covered.

ISO 26000 gives guidance, not requirements. It can’t be certified to, but companies and other organizations can use it as a framework to query and improve their approach to social responsibility, disclosing data and reporting on how they are using the standard to commit to real change. The subjects at the core of ISO 26000 have influenced the way that companies do business, how they treat their employees and how they assess and limit the impact of their activities. While society has made progress in many areas over the last decade, the guidance of ISO 26000 remains relevant to addressing today’s challenges. With many being forced to reassess the way that they do business in the light of COVID-19, the importance of social responsibility has come to the fore as a component of building a more resilient and more equitable society.

The guidance of ISO 26000 is needed more than ever when it comes to implementing a recognized approach to
:: human rights,
:: labour practices,
:: the environment,
:: fair operating practices,
:: consumer issues, and
:: community involvement and development.

Stewardship – Plastics Pollution

Global Tourism Plastics Initiative Welcomes 26 New Signatories
25 Nov 20 UNWTO
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative has welcomed 26 new signatories, including businesses and organizations from every part of the global tourism value chain. Led by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the Initiative unites the tourism sector behind a common goal of addressing the root causes of plastic pollution.

The new signatories include Booking.com, G Adventures, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Inkaterra, TUI Care Foundation, deSter part of gategroup, and International Aviation Waste Management Platform, among others. They feature suppliers of guest amenities, on-the-go packaging and waste-management platforms, as well as accommodation providers (both large groups and SMEs), leading online tourism platforms, tour operators, and associations working at the destination level.

The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative was launched in January 2020 and now counts on 46 signatories, illustrating how reducing plastics pollution in tourism remains a priority despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The diversity of the signatories highlights the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative’s potential to promote systemic solutions that can be implemented locally and scaled up globally.

Tackling plastic pollution remains a priority for sector
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative can lead to the reduction of pollution and waste across all parts of the tourism sector and support a responsible recovery from COVID-19 that leads to more sustainability and resilience

Within the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a circular approach to the management of plastic items and packaging can avoid any increase in the use of single-use plastics for hygiene purposes. It can also relieve pressure on waste management infrastructures and foster a more sustainable supply chain. In this sense, a circular economy for plastics is critical for the tourism sector to preserve and protect destinations and to recover responsibly from the current crisis.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Moving towards the circular economy is a strategic approach for the tourism sector. The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative can lead to the reduction of pollution and waste across all parts of the tourism sector and support a responsible recovery from COVID-19 that leads to more sustainability and resilience.”

Governance, Policy, Practice – UNESCO

Nature
Volume 587 Issue 7835, 26 November 2020
http://www.nature.com/nature/current_issue.html
Editorial | 25 November 2020
UNESCO must reform to stay relevant — and reconnect people through science
At 75, the UN agency with a focus on science cooperation is fighting for its future role.

UNESCO was born on 16 November 1945, just a few weeks after the end of the Second World War. Its founders had been persuaded that science — along with culture and education — could help to cement peace between countries, protect human rights and improve living standards. Now, as the United Nations and UNESCO turn 75, the Paris-based agency is struggling to determine its future.

There’s a lot to show for those 75 years. Today, UNESCO operates the system that has awarded World Heritage status to more than 1,100 important historical sites; the agency has also established a global network of more than 700 biosphere reserves. It holds nations to account on their commitments to get every child into school, and monitors threats to journalists around the world.

But among the UN’s family of specialized agencies, UNESCO has never been properly funded — and it has been trying to recover from a funding crisis for the past decade. Data supplied by UNESCO show that the agency spent US$1.1 billion in the 2-year period from 2010 to 2011, but in 2012–13, spending was down by 16% after the Palestinian Authority was granted full membership and the United States and Israel stopped their financial contributions in protest. Although its spending was back to $1.1 billion by 2018–19, inflation has greatly reduced its spending power. UNESCO is now in the middle of a transformation designed, in part, to enable it to live within its means.

When Nature spoke to UNESCO’s current and former staff, as well as to researchers who study and collaborate with it, we found immense affection for the organization and respect for its past achievements. However, there was also a sense of frustration over its future. UNESCO needs to put these concerns to rest once and for all.

Pulling together
UNESCO’s history is a stellar example of science’s power to advance both knowledge and diplomacy. In the wake of two world wars, and especially during the cold war, the agency helped to unlock the doors to international scientific cooperation, particularly in the physical sciences.

In 1951, it hosted the meeting that led to the creation of CERN, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory. Since then, CERN has mushroomed from a project intended to reunite and stimulate Europe’s physicists to a place where scientists from all over the world can collaborate. It has spawned a number of technological spin-offs and has maintained its commitment to global knowledge-sharing.

When nations were reluctant to share their oceans data, UNESCO hosted the first meeting of the International Oceanographic Commission in 1961. The commission still has a role in international efforts to sustainably manage ocean resources. And UNESCO’s efforts to connect scientists from countries with difficult relationships continued with SESAME, the Middle East’s first synchrotron light source. That project was launched in 1999 and provides an essential tool to researchers in a range of fields, from medicine to materials science. Getting scientists from Iran and Israel, or Cyprus and Turkey — all SESAME member countries — to work together is no small achievement.

That same year, UNESCO co-organized the World Conference on Science in Budapest. One of the outcomes was the creation of SciDev.Net, one of the first open-access platforms for sharing the results of scientific research, on which Science and Nature worked together to share some of their content with low- and middle-income countries.

And all of this happened in an organization that might never have had an ‘S’ in its title. UNESCO was originally conceived to protect and promote education and culture. It made room for science after leading scientists and science media (including Nature) helped to persuade the UN’s founding nations that their vision of a world at peace could not be a world without science.

And yet, for all its external successes, UNESCO has faced difficulties in how it is treated by some of its larger member states. That, in turn, has affected the ability of its staff to get things done. It hasn’t helped that some countries have treated their membership of UNESCO like a revolving door, joining and leaving as they wish, with little regard for the consequences for the agency’s work when their funding stops. The United States has left twice, and the United Kingdom and Singapore have also withdrawn in the past, then returned some years later.

When richer countries stop paying, projects on the ground suffer, but so does trust in those nations’ commitment to UNESCO’s goals. It means officials at UNESCO’s headquarters are forced to spend time and energy raising funds from other sources, and reorganizing staff and management structures to fit changing priorities — and end up spreading themselves too thinly. Time spent fire-fighting is time taken away from other priorities.

In 2013, UNESCO’s leadership responded to its loss of income with a proposal that would probably have led to most of its work in its communication and information sector being abolished. But this was seen as a step too far and rejected by member states. Now, the director-general Audrey Azoulay is trying a different approach — intended, in part, to take some of the political heat out of UNESCO’s work by focusing on things more countries can agree on, and playing to the agency’s strengths as cultural guardian, ethical compass and laboratory of ideas.

Azoulay and her team have initiated a “strategic transformation” to spearhead internal reform and programme change — the latter requiring approval by member states late next year. Meanwhile, she is prioritizing five areas: rebuilding and reviving the devastated Iraqi city of Mosul; promoting open science; working on much-needed common standards on the ethics of artificial intelligence; a long-term vision for education; and biodiversity. The last of these is a belated, but much-needed recognition of UNESCO’s long-standing experience in the study of Indigenous and local knowledge across research fields. Its importance is bolstered by the results of a UNESCO survey that asked 15,000 people what they saw as the biggest threats to peace — two-thirds of respondents said biodiversity and climate change were their greatest concern.

There’s also a strong argument for reviving UNESCO’s earlier science mission. In today’s fractured world, fundamental and applied science could once again be used to help bring people and societies together. In the Middle East, for example, UNESCO could help to reconnect scientists in Qatar with those in neighbouring countries. At present, researchers are unable to collaborate because of a regional dispute. The agency could have a greater role in South Asia’s science, which is affected by the strained relations between India and Pakistan. And UNESCO could do more for researchers in Europe, where fractures are developing between members of the European Union.

UNESCO should seek to reconnect people through science, as it has done before. But there can be no illusions about how hard the task will be. After 75 years, UNESCO is facing one of its toughest tests. Member states must make every effort to pull together with the agency’s headquarters and its field staff. UNESCO’s potential in a crisis-ridden world should not be underestimated. If UNESCO ceased to exist, the world would need to recreate it.

Press Freedoms

UNESCO and the World Association of News Publishers join forces to ensure survival of world’s media
25/11/2020
UNESCO and the World Association of News Publishers WAN-IFRA are joining forces to address the impending global emergency facing independent journalism and the media organizations that produce it.

“As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact, the decimation of journalism in many areas of the world constitutes a growing threat, bringing existing challenges to a tipping point,” the two organizations declared in a joint statement.

In the statement, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay expressed deep concern about the pandemic’s impact on local economies threatening the viability of local news media.

President of WAN-IFRA, Fernando de Yarza added, “through this initiative, UNESCO and WAN-IFRA are committed to reaffirming the democratic norms essential to the functioning of society.”

The two organizations will work together to research the extent of the crisis, consult with stakeholders for solutions, share knowledge between media outlets, and produce policy recommendations for steps to support the viability of the news media.

Through these efforts to find solutions to the crisis facing independent media, UNESCO foresees three key results:
:: Governments, donors and companies will be more aware of the importance of supporting independent media and of a range of options to do so;
:: Independent media are sharing more knowledge on best practices of media viability and resilience, and innovating their business models and their advocacy accordingly.
:: UNESCO Member States are reflecting on media viability at the global level, impacting on norms through raising awareness of the crisis and the need for remedial actions.

Experts worldwide are sounding the alarm about an “extinction event” for independent media outlets that have been hard hit by the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Financial support for UNESCO’s initiative comes the Organization’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) and the Multi-Donor Programme on freedom of expression and safety of journalists which funds the World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development.
In partnering with UNESCO, WAN-IFRA brings along its membership of 3,000 news publishing companies, which represent 18,000 publications in 120 countries. The association also bring its expertise, extensive data and international networks to the initiative…

Education/Literacy

The Equality Equation: Advancing the Participation of Women and Girls in STEM
World Bank November 23, 2020 Type: Publication
Highlights
:: A new report provides a rich review of global patterns of gender gaps in learning along the path to tertiary education, focusing on STEM.
:: It distills a large body of evidence that shows that stereotypes and biases are important drivers of gender gaps in STEM.
:: To help close these gaps, the report recommends addressing gender biases in learning materials, engaging parents, encouraging participation in STEM-related extracurricular activities, featuring role models, and promoting partnerships with the private sector.

Washington, DC, November 2020, A new World Bank Group report explores global data and evidence to better understand the drivers and solutions related to gender gaps in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

The Equality Equation: Advancing the Participation of Women and Girls in STEM provides a rich review of global patterns of gender gaps in learning along the path to tertiary education, focusing on STEM.

It finds that in the subset of countries with standardized science and mathematics test data, there is no systematic advantage for boys. And in some countries, girls are in fact outperforming boys.

Despite these trends and the fact that women are more likely to go to university than men, women are less likely to study STEM fields, particularly engineering, ICT, and physics. These disparities are also reflected in the labor market: Women who study STEM fields are less likely to enter into STEM careers and exit these careers earlier than male peers.

An interesting phenomenon is also apparent: As country income rises, gaps between the likelihood of studying STEM between women and men widens. Women in low-income countries are 7 percentage points less likely than men to enroll in tertiary programs in engineering, manufacturing, and construction. In upper-middle-income and high-income countries, the gaps widen to 15 and 17 percentage points, respectively.

The report digs deep to answer this particular question: If level of enrollment and test scores are not lower for girls and women, what drives the STEM gender gap?

“We distill a large body of evidence, which has grown in recent years, that shows that stereotypes and biases are important drivers of gender gaps in STEM,” said Eliana Rubiano Matulevich, co-author of the report. This includes perceptions (own, parents, teachers, peers, coworkers) about who is talented in science and mathematics or about who has the ability or should be working in STEM jobs. This emerges in the classroom, specifically in curricula and educational materials. And they emerge in the home where surveys show that parents show a greater preference for sons to work in STEM. And finally, studies show bias in the workplace where women face more discrimination than their male colleagues, especially in more male-dominated STEM fields.

So what can be done?
The report offers several solutions to tackle gender gaps in STEM, including:
:: Address gender biases in learning materials. For example, biographies of women who have succeeded in male-dominated fields can alter the career aspirations of girls from traditional to nontraditional careers.
:: Engage parents. Engaging parents of girls in STEM can contribute to reshaping parental attitudes toward the participation of girls in engineering.
:: Encourage participation in extracurricular activities. Museum visits, competitions, extracurricular clubs, and robotics and coding camps offer promise in fostering interest in STEM among both boys and girls.
:: Feature female role models. Role models provide examples of the kind of success that one may achieve (“I can be like her”) and often also supply a template of the behaviors that may be needed to achieve success.
:: Promote partnerships with the private sector. The private sector can play a role, by bringing financial support to non-profit STEM initiatives, facilitating exposure to female role models and internship opportunities targeting secondary school girls.

Going forward, Alicia Hammond, a co-author notes “there are a number of areas ripe for more data and further research, especially from low and middle-income contexts. We also need more rigorous methodologies as well as larger and more diverse samples. This will set us on the course for more evidence and better policy design on closing gender gaps in STEM, both in schools and in the workplace.”

Heritage Stewardship

Indigenous Communities are Using an Empowering Tool to Reclaim Their Histories in the Digital Space
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation November 2020
Dr. Kimberly Christen talks about Mukurtu, a grassroots, open-source community access platform that allows for respectful sharing of cultural heritage.

Sharing may be the currency of our open-source digital age, but in some cultures, not everything is meant to be made public. For Indigenous communities, viewing a ritual object, even in reproduction on a website, might be strictly reserved for tribal elders who fully understand its meaning. And because of sacred beliefs, some objects may simply not be available for non-Indigenous people to access at all. A grassroots effort to create a tool to address those concerns resulted in Mukurtu, a community access platform now used by more than 600 communities globally.

“All of Mukurtu’s features and functions come directly from the communities who use it,” says Kimberly Christen, professor of digital technology and culture at Washington State University in Pullman. In 2007, Christen helped create Mukurtu, and she now leads the team that maintains the platform at WSU’s Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation. Mukurtu is a practical tool, but also “a social tool,” says Christen, and “a place where respectful use of traditional knowledge begins through people.”

We spoke with Dr. Christen about how this free and open-source platform has empowered Indigenous communities to reclaim their cultural heritage and add their expert voices to the public record:
[excerpt]
Can you explain the origins of Mukurtu and what the word means?
The platform was developed in 2007 in collaboration with the Warumungu, an Aboriginal community in Central Australia I had been working with since 1995. The Warumungu wanted to create a community archive of songs, dances, and other cultural traditions along with thousands of photographs they had received from missionaries, teachers, and researchers who had visited the community, and Mukurtu provided the infrastructure for that. The name comes from Michael Jampin Jones, a member of the Warumungu community, who told me that elders would keep sacred items in a woven dilly bag or mukurtu, which means a safekeeping place. Mukurtu CMS is meant to provide the same sense of protection.

How does Mukurtu empower Indigenous communities to manage and protect their cultural heritage?
The software has evolved since its first iteration for the Warumungu, but the heart and soul of the platform remains the locally adaptable sharing protocols that facilitate different levels of access to cultural heritage, knowledge, and information. For example, a large selection of images of tribal artifacts and documents on a website might be available to the public, while reproductions of culturally sensitive places, ancestors, or sacred objects can be accessed only by community members.

“The process of shared curation builds relationships and trust that serve as the basis for ongoing collaborations and the production of new knowledge.”
—Kimberly Christen

Milestones :: Perspectives :: Research

Gavi [to 28 Nov 2020]
https://www.gavi.org/
News releases
24 November 2020
Gavi and IOM join forces to improve immunisation coverage for migrants
:: Memorandum of understanding signed today will strengthen collaboration on vaccination efforts and related health services for migrants and forcibly displaced persons across the world
:: The agreement focuses on reaching missed communities in humanitarian and emergency settings with vaccination
:: Dr Seth Berkley: Reaching migrant, refugee and displaced populations “becomes all the more important as we plan to rollout COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.”
:: António Vitorino: Vaccines are key to keep people on the move and the communities they live in as safe as possible.

Geneva, 24 November 2020 – Today, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their collaboration on vaccination efforts and related health services for migrants and forcibly displaced persons across the world, both regarding routine immunisations as well as in response to outbreaks. This milestone will be particularly critical in ensuring that migrants and other people on the move are considered and included, as the world continues its efforts to find a safe COVID-19 vaccine and is developing mechanisms, such as the COVAX Facility, to ensure a fair distribution so that as many lives as possible can be saved.

“Despite enormous progress over the past two decades ensuring children everywhere have access to lifesaving vaccines, 14 million children every year still miss out on basic vaccines,” said Gavi CEO Dr Seth Berkley. “We know a disproportionate amount of these unprotected children come from migrant, refugee and displaced populations, who are too often overlooked when it comes to basic health care. This obviously becomes all the more important as we plan to rollout COVID-19 vaccines worldwide; we cannot allow these populations to miss out on what could be one of our best routes out of this pandemic. That’s why we’re delighted to partner with IOM, to help provide a healthier future to some of the most vulnerable people on earth.”

“Vaccines are one of the most powerful tools we have to keep people on the move, the communities they leave behind and the communities they join as safe and healthy as possible,” stressed IOM Director General António Vitorino. “This reinforced partnership will be critical in helping IOM achieve just that and contribute tangibly to the realization of true universal health coverage.”

The agreement signed by the two organizations focuses on reaching missed communities in humanitarian and emergency settings with vaccination and support routine immunisation through engagement in primary health care systems. The partnership also aims to boost advocacy for the prioritization of vulnerable populations, support operational and policy assistance and facilitate technical collaboration. Specifically, the memorandum of understanding seeks to facilitate collaboration on ensuring the inclusion of migrants, IDPs and refugees in governments’ COVID-19 responses, in particular vaccination efforts…

EMERGENCIES

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

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates
last update: 14 November 2020, 10:30 GMT-4
Confirmed cases :: 61 299 371 [week ago: 57 274 018] [two weeks ago: 53 164 803]
Confirmed deaths :: 1 439 784 [week ago: 1 368 000] [two weeks ago: 1 300 576]
Countries, areas or territories with cases :: 220

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Weekly epidemiological update – 24 November 2020
Overview
This past week, the global acceleration in case incidence has slowed down, with around 4 million new cases reported; however, death rates continue to increase with over 67 000 new deaths reported.

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Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 25 November 2020
:: Fahima Ahmed Hassan is a 25-year-old community mobilizer who goes the extra mile to ensure parents of children under the age of five are informed of Somalia’s polio vaccination campaigns and are ready for their children to be vaccinated. Read about Fahima and other Community mobilizers who build trust with communities ahead of crucial vaccination campaigns.
:: The GPEI has published an Interim guidance document on the use of Novel Oral Polio Vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) which is meant to provide context and policy guidance on the use of nOPV2 in response to Type 2 circulating Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus (cVDPV2) during the Initial Use Period. This document is an addendum to the “Standard Operating Procedures: Responding to a poliovirus event or outbreak”, Version 3.1’ (SOPs) (5).

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES postitives):
:: Afghanistan: two WPV1 cases, 24 cVDPV2 cases and 18 cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
:: Pakistan: two WPV1 positive environmental samples and 21 cVDPV2 cases
:: Burkina Faso: four cVDPV2 cases
:: Côte d’Ivoire: 16 cVDPV2 cases and 4 cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
:: Niger: two cVDPV2 cases
:: South Sudan: seven cVDPV2 cases and 2 cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
:: Sudan: two cVDPV2 cases
:: Somalia: one cVDPV2 case and one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
:: Yemen: two cVDPV1 cases

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Editor’s Note:
A number of country pages below did not load at inquiry.

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 28 Nov 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

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 28 Nov 2020]
Iraq
:: Restoration works completed at East Erbil Emergency Hospital and specialized services resumed for patients 24 November 2020

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified
Angola – No new digest announcements identified
Burkina Faso – 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
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

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WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 28 Nov 2020]

Djibouti
:: Djibouti se prépare aux Journées nationales de vaccination contre la poliomyélite
25 novembre 2020 – Près de 130 000 enfants de Djibouti vont être vaccinés contre le poliovirus dans le cadre d’une campagne de vaccination nationale contre la poliomyélite qui devrait débuter lundi 23 novembre et s’étendra sur quatre jours

Chad – No new digest announcements identified
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

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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. 
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

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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.
East Africa Locust Infestation
:: Desert Locust situation update – 24 November 2020

COVID-19
:: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update (24 November 2020)

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