PLOS Currents: Disasters
http://currents.plos.org/disasters/
[Accessed 5 April 2014]
Health Sector Initiatives for Disaster Risk Management in Ethiopia: A Narrative Review
Luche Tadesse, Ali Ardalan
April 1, 2014 • Research article
Background: Natural and man-made disasters are prevailing in Ethiopia mainly due to drought, floods, landslides, earthquake, volcanic eruptions, and disease epidemics. Few studies so far have critically reviewed about medical responses to disasters and little information exists pertaining to the initiatives being undertaken by health sector from the perspective of basic disaster management cycle. This article aimed to review emergency health responses to disasters and other related interventions which have been undertaken in the health sector.
Methods: Relevant documents were identified by searches in the websites of different sectors in Ethiopian and international non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies. Using selected keywords, articles were also searched in the data bases of Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, and Google Scholar. In addition, pertinent articles from non-indexed journals were referred to.
Results: Disaster management system in Ethiopia focused on response, recovery, and rehabilitation from 1974 to 1988; while the period between 1988 and 1993 marked the transition phase towards a more comprehensive approach. Theoretically, from 1993 onwards, the disaster management system has fully integrated the mitigation, prevention, and preparedness phases into already existing response and recovery approach, particularly for drought. This policy has changed the emergency response practices and the health sector has taken some initiatives in the area of emergency health care. Hence, drought early warning system, therapeutic feeding program in hospitals, health centers and posts in drought prone areas to manage promptly acute malnutrition cases have all been put in place. In addition, public health disease emergencies have been responded to at all levels of health care system.
Conclusions: Emergency health responses to drought and its ramifications such as acute malnutrition and epidemics have become more comprehensive in the context of basic disaster management phases; and impacts of drought and epidemics seem to be declining. However, the remaining challenge is to address disasters arising from other hazards such as flooding in terms ofmitigation, prevention, preparedness and integrating them in the health care system

Qualitative Health Research
April 2014; 24 (4)
http://qhr.sagepub.com/content/current
Special Issue: Women’s Health
Physical Intimate Partner Violence in Northern India
Maya I. Ragavan1, Kirti Iyengar2, Rebecca M. Wurtz3
1Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA
2Action Research and Training for Health, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
3Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Maya I. Ragavan, Stanford University, Department of Pediatrics, 725 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
http://qhr.sagepub.com/content/24/4/457.abstract
Abstract
In this article, we examine perceptions about the definition of physical intimate partner violence (IPV) in northern India utilizing feminist perspectives as a framework. We interviewed 56 women and 52 men affiliated with a health services nongovernmental organization in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan. We transcribed, coded, and analyzed the interviews utilizing grounded theory. We found that perceptions regarding physical IPV were associated with both structural and ideological patriarchal beliefs and microlevel constructs such as alcohol use. We discovered multiple types of physical IPV in the study region, including rationalized violence (socially condoned violence perpetrated by a husband against his wife), unjustified violence (socially prohibited violence perpetrated by a husband against his wife), and majboori violence (violence perpetrated by a wife against her husband). Our results add to the breadth of research available about IPV in India and create a framework for future research and IPV prevention initiatives.

TORTURE Journal
Latest issue: Volume 24, Supplementum 1, 2014
http://www.irct.org/torture-journal
Issue Theme: Of death and rebirth: Life histories of Rwandan female genocide survivors
Introduction
Annemiek Richters
Excerpt
It is generally known that during the 100 days of genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994, sexual violence was committed on an unprecedented scale. Many women were first raped and then killed. With a certain degree of probability, the majority of Tutsi women who survived had been raped. Limited information is available regarding the experiences of these women. However, there is enough empirical evidence provided in human rights accounts and research
reports substantiating that these women were exposed to unimaginable horror, which for the majority of them had a range of devastating short and long term effects.1-4 What is hard to find are voices of female survivors who succeeded in taking steps towards healing of at least some of these lingering effects. The stories collected in this Supplementum stand out in this respect. The authors describe the genocide as a period that turned them into living dead persons while they end their stories with the rebirth they experienced through participation in
sociotherapy….

Vaccine
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X/32
Volume 32, Issue 20, Pages 2261-2388 (25 April 2014)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X/32/20
Cost and sustainability of a successful package of interventions to improve vaccination coverage for children in urban slums of Bangladesh
Original Research Article
Pages 2294-2299
K. Hayford, M.J. Uddin, T.P. Koehlmoos, D.M. Bishai
Abstract
Objective
To estimate the incremental economic costs and explore satisfaction with a highly effective intervention for improving immunization coverage among slum populations in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A package of interventions based on extended clinic hours, vaccinator training, active surveillance, and community participation was piloted in two slum areas of Dhaka, and resulted in an increase in valid fully immunized children (FIC) from 43% pre-intervention to 99% post-intervention.
Methods
Cost data and stakeholder perspectives were collected January–February 2010 via document review and 10 key stakeholders interviews to estimate the financial and opportunity costs of the intervention, including uncompensated time, training and supervision costs.
Results
The total economic cost of the 1-year intervention was $18,300, comprised of external management and supervision (73%), training (11%), coordination costs (1%), uncompensated staff time and clinic costs (2%), and communications, supplies and other costs (13%). An estimated 874 additional children were correctly and fully immunized due to the intervention, at an average cost of $20.95 per valid FIC. Key stakeholders ranked extended clinic hours and vaccinator training as the most important components of the intervention. External supervision was viewed as the most important factor for the intervention’s success but also the costliest. All stakeholders would like to reinstate the intervention because it was effective, but additional funding would be needed to make the intervention sustainable.
Conclusion
Targeting slum populations with an intensive immunization intervention was highly effective but would nearly triple the amount spent on immunization per FIC in slum areas. Those committed to increasing vaccination coverage for hard-to-reach children need to be prepared for substantially higher costs to achieve results.

Vaccine
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X/32
Volume 32, Issue 20, Pages 2261-2388 (25 April 2014)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0264410X/32/20

Vaccine preventable diseases: Time to re-examine global surveillance data?
Original Research Article
Pages 2315-2320
Adam MacNeil, Vance Dietz, Thomas Cherian
Abstract
While data driven estimates of the global burden of disease for some vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) are limited, aggregate case numbers of VPDs are reported annually by country in the Joint Reporting Form (JRF). We examined pertussis surveillance data in the JRF, and vaccine coverage estimates, in comparison to measles, which is a priority disease for elimination and eradication efforts and is supported by the WHO Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network. In 2012, highest pertussis case numbers and incidence were reported from high income countries with high vaccine coverage, discordant with countries that had low vaccine coverage. Use of laboratory diagnostics for pertussis cases varied among countries. In contrast, highest reported numbers of measles cases and incidences tended to occur in low income countries. These observations imply poor quality global surveillance data for some VPDs, limiting capacity for monitoring global epidemiology or making vaccination policy decisions. Efforts are needed to improve the availability of quality surveillance data for all VPDs.

From Google Scholar+ [to 5 April 2014]
Selected content from beyond the journals and sources covered above, aggregated from a range of Google Scholar monitoring algorithms and other monitoring strategies.

[HTML] Climate and Disaster Resilience: The Role for Community-Driven Development
“Arnold, Margaret; Mearns, Robin; Oshima, Kaori; Prasad, Vivek. 2014. Climate and Disaster Resilience : The Role for Community-Driven Development. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17553
Pdf: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/17553/850070WP0CDD0C0Box382145B000PUBLIC0.pdf?sequence=1
This paper is part of a larger effort to document, assess, and promote scalable models and approaches to empower poor communities to manage a climate and disaster risk agenda in support of their development goals and to identify practical ways of getting climate and disaster risk financing directly to the ground level where impacts are felt. Social funds, social protection systems and safety nets, community-driven development (CDD) projects, livelihoods-support and related operational platforms can serve as useful vehicles for promoting community-level resilience to disaster and climate risk. This paper examines the World Bank’s Community-Driven Development (CDD) portfolio to assess experience to date and to explore the potential for building the resilience of vulnerable communities to climate and disaster risk through CDD programs. It aims to be useful to both the Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management practitioner as well as the CDD practitioner. The paper assesses the scale of climate and disaster resilience support provided through CDD projects from 2001-11 and characterizes the forms of support provided. For the climate change adaption and disaster risk management (DRM) practitioner, it discusses the characteristics of a CDD approach and how they lend themselves to building local-level climate resilience. For the CDD practitioner, the paper describes the types of activities that support resilience building and explores future directions for CDD to become a more effective vehicle for reducing climate and disaster risk.

[PDF] Knowledge management in the humanitarian sector: Challenges in improving decision-making
Maereg Tafere
12 March 2014 – Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection www.phap.org
Excerpt
When I contemplated writing on knowledge management (KM), an article by Alan Fowler from 1997 came to mind:
An almost universal weakness of NGOs is found within their often limited capacity to learn, adapt and continuously improve the quality of what they do. This is a serious concern because the future usefulness of NGOs for the world’s poor will depend on their ability to overcome their learning disabilities. Crudely put, if NGOs do not learn from their experience, they are destined for insignificance and will atrophy as agents of social change. NGOs urgently need to put in place systems which ensure that they know and learn from what they are achieving — as opposed to what they are doing — and then apply what they learn.1…

Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/18770428
Satellite Remote Sensing as a Tool in Disaster Management and Sustainable Development: Towards a Synergistic Approach
Olalekan Mumin Belloa, Yusuf Adedoyin Ainab
Volume 120, 19 March 2014, Pages 365–373
3rd International Geography Symposium, GEOMED2013, 10-13 June 2013, Antalya, Turkey
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.114
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042814016449
Abstract
Disasters have become an issue of growing concern throughout the world, whether it is natural hazards or through human factors. The frequency, as well as magnitude, of disasters threatening large population living in diverse environments is increasing in recent years across the world. These disasters also have far-reaching implications on sustainable development through social, economic and environmental impacts. It is highly imperative to develop effective tools for disaster management. Remote sensing systems have been playing a great role in disaster management in such areas as flooding, cyclones, drought, earthquake and tsunami. Satellite remote sensing is largely adopted due to its cost effectiveness, short temporal orbiting and large area of coverage. Remote sensing technologies have been used in disaster management especially during the preparedness/warning and response/monitoring stages. Despite the capabilities of remote sensing technologies in natural and human disaster management, there are still some limitations in its deployment due to the divide between developed and developing countries, data accessibility (especially high resolution imagery) and technological limitations. This paper examines the recent developments in the application of remote sensing in disaster management such as the proliferation of data through unprecedented sources (Google Earth, crowdsourcing, Global Land Cover) and improvement in data resolutions and integration of technologies. It examines how recent developments can help in overcoming the limitations of using remotely sensed data in disaster management. There is a need for more collaborative and interdisciplinary frameworks to fully utilize the capabilities of remote sensing in hazard and disaster management.

Early Child Development and Care
Volume 184, Issue 6, 2014
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/gecd20/current#.U0GwNVcWNdc
Vulnerability of internally displaced children in disaster relief camps of Pakistan: issues, challenges, and way forward
Shela Akbar Ali Hirania*
DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2014.901012
Published online: 31 Mar 2014
Abstract
Pakistan is a developing country with the second highest infant and child mortality rates in South Asia. During the past years this region has undergone several humanitarian emergencies that have negatively affected all the aspects of health and development of young children. During these emergencies relief camps are set up by governmental and non-governmental agencies with the aim of meeting the physical needs of the targeted community by providing basic health care (first aid), food, water, and shelter. As these services do not adequately address children’s rights, all aspects of their health (physical, mental, social, and spiritual) and development, therefore, internally displaced children in the disaster relief camps of Pakistan are highly vulnerable to having a negative impact on all aspects of their health, brain development, learning, coping, and competence. Hence, to enable these children to develop their maximum potentials, cope positively, and become resilient, a well-thought child-care programme is recommended in the disaster relief camps of Pakistan.

Lincoln Planning Review
5(1-2) (2013) 60-61
http://journals.lincoln.ac.nz/index.php/LPR/issue/view/68/showToc
Indigenous Disaster Planning–reflections on recent conferences
Simon LAMBERT
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand
Excerpt
Reduction in Geneva continues worldwide efforts to adopt the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015 (HFA) and its strategy of ‘Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters’. This year’s conference included a side event called ‘Engaging Indigenous People in Disaster Risk Reduction’. Organised by John Scott of the Centre for Public Service Communications, I was privileged to be invited onto the panel to discuss how Indigenous communities might contribute to local, national, and global disaster risk reduction practices. We stressed the necessity for Indigenous Peoples to have a voice in order to reduce disaster risk and vulnerability: imposing centralised solutions to local problems (many of which have successful solutions originating from Traditional Ecological Knowledge) threaten a community’s capacity to initiate risk reduction and save lives. Risks may include some that are unique to Indigenous communities – exacerbated by our histories of colonisation and ongoing marginalisation – but also include those we have in common with other communities worldwide.
I spoke on our research about the Māori response to the earthquakes of 2010-11, emphasising our traditional cultural institutions such as marae and their role in civil defence for all community members, our comfort in clustering as whānau and the continued relevance of cultural practices of manaakitanga (the obligations of hospitality) and whānaungatanga (acknowledging bonds of kinship)…

Remarks: New Approaches to Poverty Eradication among Women with Disabilities
Posted on March 25, 2014
New York, 19 March 2014. Remarks by UN Women Deputy Executive Director Lakshmi Puri
CSW58 side event on New Approaches to Poverty Eradication among Women with Disabilities,

Good afternoon, excellencies, distinguished delegates and guests,
I would like to thank the Permanent Mission of Germany and UN DESA for co-organizing this event that addresses an issue that does not receive the attention it critically needs – women and girls with disabilities.

Evidence has shown us that persons with disabilities experience disproportionately high rates of poverty and exclusion, and they lack equitable access to resources such as education, employment, health, as well as legal and support systems. Women and girls with disabilities are disproportionately affected in all these areas.
In the case of employment, although all persons with disabilities face barriers to employment, men with disabilities have been found to be almost twice as likely to be employed as women with disabilities.

Because many women with disabilities experience severely limited access to employment, they often turn to self-employment. They then face additional challenges due to the lack of capital and access to financial services and products.

Despite these challenges, we know that solutions exist. We have seen great initiatives to enhance access of women with disabilities to productive resources, including financial services and products.

For example, I could highlight “The Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities” in Thailand. The Fund provides opportunities for women with disabilities to access loans. We also know of the “Financial Inclusion Support Framework” of the World Bank, that supports policy, regulatory and institutional reforms to catalyze and expand financial services to women, including women with disabilities. The organization “ProMujer” in Nicaragua supports a village bank created by, a women with disabilities organization and provides financial services to women with disabilities without special conditions, as well as business training.

There are also a number of initiatives that have worked to expand access to employment opportunities and economic decision-making among women with disabilities. In South Korea, the government put in place an initiative to provide larger amounts of financial assistance to business owners who hire women with disabilities. In Germany, the government’s national network entitled “Political Representation of the Interests of Women with Disabilities” focuses on initiating schemes to realize the participation of women with disabilities, in particular in the fields of participation in working life, protection against violence, healthcare and parenthood. Our very own “Global Knowledge Gateway for Women’s Economic Empowerment”, recently launched by UN Women, is an online platform, which enables women with disabilities to get access to up-to-date information, technical resources and contacts on economic empowerment.

But the key to the economic empowerment of women with disabilities is with Member States. There are two international conventions and agreements that address women and girls with disabilities and offer guidance, including CEDAW and CRPD, the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities. Member States need to take full advantage of the reporting process to these conventions to put in place and expand national initiatives to support the financial inclusion of women with disabilities. Today, there is still too little information in CEDAW reporting with regard to the rights of women and girls with disabilities.

The intersection of gender and disability needs to be better addressed by leveraging CRPD and CEDAW Conventions together, strengthening country reports, supporting governments and NGOs to provide better information, and closely working with committee members.

UN Women has begun to mainstream disability into our work and has already achieved some results. We have engaged with Member States to secure references to women with disabilities in the Agreed Conclusions of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, and we are doing the same this year. We have also worked to integrate gender components into the outcome document of the High Level Meeting on Disability and Development. UN Women has also placed women and girls with disabilities as a group deserving special attention in our new strategic plan covering the period 2014-2017.

Although some progress has been made, there is more work ahead. We need to step up systematic efforts to mainstream a gender and disability perspective into all the work of international organizations, such as the Global Partnership for Disability and Development and the UN Partnership to promote the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Multi-Donor Trust Fund.
We need to develop best practices based on what has already been done to protect and promote the rights of women and girls with disabilities and the Beijing+20 review and appraisal process offers a crucial and important opportunity for the international community to review, further develop, and scale up best practices.

We need to develop a global partnership for the rights of women and girls with disabilities, and we must recognize and support collective action of women with disabilities. They have played a critical role in advancing women’s rights, holding decision-makers accountable and putting emerging issues on the agenda and they deserve our attention and commitment.

This organized voice needs to be nurtured and represented in the disability and gender work. Let us take every opportunity to explore synergy and identify existing networks of organizations of women and persons with disabilities for our partners to build on this important issue.
Thank you.

Report: World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development
UNESCO
March 2014, 104 pages
Executive Summary (Excerpt)
Freedom of expression in general, and media development in particular, are core to UNESCO’s constitutional mandate to advance ‘the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication’ and promoting ‘the free flow of ideas by word and image.’ For UNESCO, press freedom is a corollary of the general right to freedom of expression. Since 1991, the year of the seminal Windhoek Declaration, which was endorsed by our Member States, UNESCO has understood press freedom as designating the conditions of media freedom, pluralism and independence, as well as the safety of journalists. It is within this framework that this report examines progress as regards press freedom, including in regard to gender equality, and makes sense of the evolution of media actors, news media institutions and journalistic roles over time.

This report has been prepared as the basis of a summary report on the global state of press freedom and the safety of journalists, presented to the General Conference of UNESCO Member States in November 2013, on the mandate of the decision by Member States taken at the 36th session of the General Conference of the Organization.1

The overarching global trend with respect to media freedom, pluralism, independence and the safety of journalists over the past several years is that of disruption and change brought on by technology, and to a lesser extent, the global financial crisis. These trends have impacted traditional economic and organizational structures in the news media, legal and regulatory frameworks, journalism practices, and media consumption and production habits. Technological convergence has expanded the number of and access to media platforms as well as the potential for expression. It has enabled the emergence of citizen journalism and spaces for independent media, while at the same time fundamentally reconfiguring journalistic practices and the business of news.

The broad global patterns identified in this report are accompanied by extensive unevenness within the whole. The trends summarized above, therefore, go hand in hand with substantial variations between and within regions as well as countries.

DEVEX
https://www.devex.com/en/
The benefits of PPPs in global health
Seth Berkley, GAVI CEO
25 March 2014
Excerpt
If countries are healthier and more prosperous, then we all benefit. After all, global health means economic health.

This is one reason why many governments in wealthier countries have helped fund disease prevention in developing countries, far outside their borders. It’s the right thing to do, but it’s also smart policy. Global health is a fundamental cornerstone of a vibrant global economy.

In particular, children’s health — starting with immunization — has the power to fundamentally change the economic progress of developing countries beyond the basic benefit of saving lives and improving health. Vaccines are a far better value than treating disease. By keeping people healthy, vaccines also help break the cycle of poverty, enabling children to be better nourished and go to school; parents to work more productively; and countries thereby to attract foreign investment that brings trade, infrastructure and technology.

Healthy kids mean healthy families, communities and societies. This makes the economic, education and labor impact of vaccines immense. It is truly a proven, sustainable approach to development. But with government budgets squeezed and many on-the-ground challenges outside of their expertise, governments cannot do this alone. How do we get to the next level? Businesses have the ability to rally the public by providing solutions and applying know-how to problems of any size. One example of this public-private partnership model is my organization, the GAVI Alliance, whose mission is to save children’s lives and protect people’s health by increasing access to immunization in developing countries. Since 2000, GAVI has helped immunize more than 440 million children and prevent 6 million deaths in the process.

The private sector has become an important partner in this cause. There is a growing corporate awareness that the world’s biggest health challenges — including how to reach the 22 million children who go un-vaccinated each year — also have profound economic implications. Vaccine-preventable diseases, such as pneumonia, measles and deadly diarrhea, take an enormous toll on people in developing countries. Companies recognize that their competitiveness and the health of communities where they do business are mutually dependent. We all are stakeholders.
It is imperative that both the public and private sectors work together. Businesses have invested in GAVI because they know that one of the strongest ways to promote global health is through immunization. And quite simply, vaccines provide a strong return on investment…

Displacement, violence likely cause of Iraq’s first polio case in 14 years
IRIN – UNOCHA
Excerpt
DUBAI, 24 March 2014 (IRIN) – Health officials in Iraq are stepping up polio immunization and surveillance following the first confirmed case of the virus in the country in more than a decade. “It is a huge blow because for 14 years Iraq has been polio free,” Syed Jaffar Hussain, head of mission for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq, told IRIN. WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region poliovirus laboratory in Egypt and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA both confirmed the outbreak, detected after a six-month-old baby living on the outskirts of Baghdad became paralysed. The strain’s genetic sequence matches the one found last September in Syria – wild polio virus type 1 (WPV1) – but it is not yet clear how the virus made it to the Iraqi capital or how the boy became infected. His family has no links with Syria or record of recent travel there…

WHO: Burden of disease from Household Air Pollution for 2012
Released March 2014
Summary of results
Globally, 4.3 million deaths were attributable to household air pollution (HAP) in 2012, almost all in low and middle income (LMI) countries. The South East Asian and Western Pacific regions bear most of the burden with 1.69 and 1.62 million deaths, respectively. Almost 600’000 deaths occur in Africa, 200’000 in the Eastern Mediterranean region, 99’000 in Europe and 81’000 in the Americas. The remaining 19’000 deaths occur in high income countries.
The large increase in burden compared with the previous estimate of 2 million deaths from HAP from 20041 is mainly due to 1) additional health outcomes such as cerebrovascular diseases and ischaemic heart disease included in the analysis2; 2) additional evidence that has become available on the relationship between exposure and health outcomes and the use of integrated exposure-response functions3; and 3) an increase in non-communicable diseases.
Although women experience higher personal exposure levels than men2,4 and therefore higher relative risk to develop adverse health outcomes due to their greater involvement in daily cooking activities, the absolute burden is larger in men due to larger underlying disease rates in men.

AMREF [to 29 March 2014]

Nursing students register exemplary results
Students from the AMREF Virtual Training School (AVTS) are celebrating their success and have every reason to be proud.
In the just released results by the Nursing Council of Kenya (NCK) for the January 2014 National Licensure exams, AVTS posted a pass rate of 88 per cent against a national pass rate of 68 per cent. The AMREF Virtual Training School further posted seven credits. This is the highest number of credits registered from any one school nationally. The 44 students were among the over 1,798 students from 48 schools who registered for the National Licensure exams.
AMREF congratulates all the students on their exemplary performance and commends all partners, tutors and supporters for making the AMREF virtual training a model for nursing and midwifery training.

AMREF calls for greater synergy and investment to find ‘missed’ TB cases
Despite major progress made towards the global Millennium Development Goals in recent years the Tuberculosis burden remains enormous. In 2012, an estimated 8.6 million cases of TB infection were recorded and 1.3 million people died from the disease. At the same time, however, three million TB cases are missed by national notification systems every year, accelerating the spread of the disease. Many of these three million people live in the world’s poorest, most vulnerable communities, including in Africa, underlining the need for innovative action both at health system and community levels to identify all cases of TB infection, illness and ensure that they get the right treatment and care.
As Africa’s leading health development organisation working with vulnerable and underserved communities, AMREF joins the global TB Partnership in calling for increased efforts to reach the three million missed cases.

AMREF ‏@AMREF_Worldwide Mar 25
There are 109 community health workers enrolled by the HELP project so far through partnership with GoK, @SafaricomLtd @Accenture #mLearning

Aravind Eye Care System [to 29 March 2014]
AravindEyeFdtn ‏@AravindEye Mar 26
Today, #Aravind opened its 46th vision center to address needless #blindness in Kadayam. Sponsored by Anne and Julie Kelly

BRAC [to 29 March 2014]

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed named one of the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine
The US-based Fortune magazine has named BRAC founder and chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed in its list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders. The list, which features leaders from politics and religion to corporate CEOs and heads of civil society organizations, features the BRAC founder at number 32. The top five positions on the list are held by Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally, US investor Warren Buffet and former US President Bill Clinton. Other no……Read More

Perspectives on Women’s Rights: Feminist Voices from Bangladesh
29 March 2014, Dhaka. Programme on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR) in partnership with South Asian Feminist Alliance (SAFA) and BRAC hosted a public event, Feminist Voices from Bangladesh on Saturday, 29 March, 2014, from 4 to 6 p.m at the BRAC Centre Inn Auditorium, 75 Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Eminent feminists Rokeya Kabir, Salma Khan, Khushi Kabir, Sara Hossain, Farida Akhter, Shireen Huq, Anna Minj and Moni Rani Das shared their perspectives on feminism, their pers……Read More

BRAC USA announces renewed push for Bangladesh garment workers
$5 million raised for newly launched Bangladesh Humanitarian Fund for rehabilitation of garment workers, victim support, and awareness of workplace safety
NEW YORK, NY – As the one-year anniversary of the Bangladesh Rana Plaza building collapse approaches, BRAC USA, the North American affiliate of BRAC, announced today a multi-year fundraising initiative to ensure that progress continues on humanitarian aid and support for workers in Bangladesh’s ready-made garment industry. An antipoverty org……Read More

BRAC gives media awards to 24 journalists and three media houses
24 March 2014, Dhaka. In recognition of mass media’s valuable contribution to raising awareness about tuberculosis and its treatment, BRAC held the Media Award on Tuberculosis 2014 on Monday, 24 March, which is also International Tuberculosis Day. Twenty-four journalists from national and local newspapers and three media houses received this award for their outstanding efforts in covering the issue at the event held at BRAC Centre, Dhaka.] Joint editor of the Daily Samakal Rashid-un-nabi Babu, ……Read More

Community girls’ schools launched in Sierra Leone
23 March 2014, Dhaka. On 17 March 2014, BRAC formally launched community girls’ schools all over Sierra Leone. Currently, one school has been opened in each of the 12 out of 14 districts that BRAC is currently working in, with the aim to open in the other two districts by 25 March 2014. The initiative is a major component of the Girls Education Challenge project, funded by DFID. BRAC is providing education to over 7,500 girls who are marginalised and have dropped out of the formal education sy……Read More

BRAC @BRACworld 5h
Sir Abed to audience- come up with lot more innovation, scale things up to help as many ppl as you can & above all be ambitious!#scalefrugal

BRAC @BRACworld 6h
Sir Abed: Whatever BRAC did so far, it did it for pushing poor people out of poverty. Hence the #propoor model. #scalefrugal

BRAC @BRACworld 10h
BRAC leveraged @ushahidi to inform senior leadership decision-making with the voices of BRAC beneficiaries #scalefrugal-via @faizalkarmali

BRAC @BRACworld Mar 28
Moments away from kicking off the 2nd #BRAC Frugal #Innovation Forum! Follow tweets to stay updated. #scalefrugal pic.twitter.com/qqHgHj284v

BRAC @BRACworld Mar 26
The @GESForum 2014 Meet the Mentor session: Sir Fazle Hasan Abed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqzXm5ZVYWU …

Retweeted by BRAC
Susan Davis @SusanDavisBRAC Mar 26
Exciting announcement! More support for garment workers in Bangladesh: http://brac.net/content/brac-usa-announces-renewed-push-bangladesh-garment-workers#.UzLRNc4vy2p … #RanaPlaza http://www.ranaplaza-arrangement.org/fund/donors/donors … @BRACworld

BRAC ‏@BRACworld Mar 24
Join us for the tweet chat on #mobilemoney on the 28th at the #frugal #innovation Forum – http://bit.ly/1hfc3iq #data #ict4d #globaldev

Casa Alianza [to 29 March 2014]
Covenant House [to 29 March 2014]

Casa Alianza UK @CasaAlianzaUK Mar 27
Brand new on our blog – the calm before the kick-off: https://casaalianzauk.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/arriving-in-rio-the-calm-before-the-kick-off/ … … @SCWC2014 #streetchildren #sport http://twitter.com/CasaAlianzaUK/status/449283787646451713/photo/1pic.twitter.com/SmPF0mPsaX

Unique New Documentary Tells The Story of One of Our Kids
This Friday at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, there will be a screening of a documentary that tells the story of Jerome, a Covenant House youth whose volunteer work with homeless dogs changed his life.

Covenant House @CovenantHouse Mar 29
Registration deadline 4 UN conference on fight against #HumanTrafficking is fast approaching. Act now http://bit.ly/1gj7Y0w Pls RT

Covenant House ‏@CovenantHouse Mar 28
Please remember to follow us on #Instagram (@Covenant_House) for exclusive content from our events! http://instagram.com/covenant_house

ECPAT [to 29 March 2014]
Today we celebrate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade!
Posted on 03/25/2014, 11:42
The transatlantic slave trade was one of the most brutal slavery systems in history with over 15 million victims. On March 25, the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, we commemorate those people and their struggles. However, racism, prejudice and human trafficking have not ended. Today, we at ECPAT want to draw attention to the men, women and especially the child victims who continue to suffer from modern day slavery, through sex trafficking and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation.
Find out more about the work we do: http://www.ecpat.net/what-we-do

Handicap International [to 29 March 2014]
Aid agencies: “…we can ease immense human suffering” [Syria]
March 28, 2014
One month after the adoption of Security Council resolution 2139, assessments show that progress on humanitarian access in Syria has been very limited.
Excerpt
Assessments estimate that more than 3.5 million people are still cut off from food and medication, say eight aid agencies. When the United Nations Security Council takes stock of progress on humanitarian access this Friday, they have to be honest about the lack of progress. The Council needs to act to ensure that this resolution is implemented immediately to provide life-saving aid to millions of Syrians…
..According to the UN, more than 9.3 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid inside Syria. “Dedicated aid agencies are ready to cross battle lines, borders, rivers and mountains – whatever is required to end the human suffering in Syria,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. “There is no excuse for not facilitating a lot more cross-border aid operations.”
“Behind the headlines are people inside Syria for whom this war is a bitter, daily reality,” said Thierry-Mehdi Benlahsen, Regional Emergency Coordinator Handicap International. “This crisis might appear complex in political terms, but is dramatically simpler in humanitarian ones. Through humanitarian assistance we cannot stop this war, but we can reduce people’s suffering and dying in the absence of a peaceful political solution. The UN Security Council needs to strengthen the implementation of the resolution including detailed monitoring mechanisms and ensure that much needed humanitarian assistance reaches the people trapped inside Syria.”…
…“The growing plight of millions of Syrians underscores the importance of making UNSC resolution 2139 a success,” said Mark Schnellbaecher, Regional Director of the International Rescue Committee. “Every day that passes without progress on humanitarian access, is the worst day yet for Syrians struggling to survive.”…

Heifer International [to 29 March 2014]

Heifer International @Heifer Mar 28
See how Heifer and @operationsmile are giving this 5-year-old boy a future to smile about: http://hefr.in/1jFK6HD

Heifer International @Heifer Mar 26
Read why @HeiferCEO believes that female farmers will save the world: http://hefr.in/1juNmWm

Heifer International ‏@Heifer Mar 26
Join the Heifer conversation. Read the spring @World_Ark magazine online today: http://hefr.in/1m63smv

HelpAge International [to 29 March 2014]

HelpAge @helpage Mar 27
Older people were traumatised by #Haiyan. With partners, inc. @MERCYMalaysia we recruited older people as counsellors http://bit.ly/1o4gipW

HelpAge ‏@helpage Mar 27
Latest issue of Ageways available to download. Focus is #emergencies with articles on #health & #shelter among others http://bit.ly/1jQvL6Z

Retweeted by HelpAge
HelpAge LA @HelpAgeLA Mar 25
@HelpAgeLA comunica con profundo pesar el fallecimiento de nuestro Director Ejecutivo, Francisco Roque Castro http://www.helpage.org/la/noticias/fallecio-francisco-roque/ …

HelpAge @helpage Mar 25
Very sad to announce Francisco Roque, our L America & Caribbean Director has passed away. Thoughts with his family http://bit.ly/OVi112

HelpAge ‏@helpage Mar 24
Watch our video to find out what we’re doing to help older #Syrian #refugees in #Jordan and #Lebanon: http://bit.ly/1dGVn2t

International Rescue Committee [to 29 March 2014]

Press Releases
28 Mar 2014
IRC Deeply Concerned By Recent Attacks Targeting Humanitarian Aid Organizations in Myanmar
March 29, 2014 – The International Rescue Committee expressed deep concern about recent attacks on humanitarian aid organizations, including IRC offices, in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, in Myanmar. The attacks, which began on Wednesday and have continued over the past 2 days have forced the IRC to temporarily suspend its work throughout Rakhine State and to relocate its staff to Yangon…

28 Mar 2014
Aid agencies: “We cannot stop the war, but we can ease immense human suffering” [Syria: Jint announcement with Handicap above]

28 Mar 2014
IRC statement on today’s update to the UN Security Council on Resolution 2139 on humanitarian access
Mark Schnellbaecher, IRC Regional Director – Syrian Crisis Response, said: “The failure to effectively implement the unanimously adopted resolution on humanitarian access is a tragedy for the Syrian people. This war has already taken far too many lives and destroyed the hopes of far too many families. The resolution offered a way to reach the millions of Syrians trapped by conflict and struggling to survive. It demanded that all parties to the conflict allow aid to reach besieged civilians and to help those in desperate need. That access has again been denied, just as it has throughout the three years of this war.
“Today the International Rescue Committee is calling for permanent member states of the Security Council and the international community to deliver a negotiated solution that allows lifesaving aid across borders into Syria and across conflict lines inside the country. We are seeing Syrians’ future dissolve before our eyes in a war that shows no sign of abating. What we need now is full implementation of UNSC resolution 2139 and results on the ground. Without that, we will fail Syrians in need.
“The growing plight of millions of Syrians underscores the importance of making UNSC resolution 2139 a success. Every day that passes without progress on humanitarian access, is the worst day yet for Syrians struggling to survive,” says Schnellbaecher….

Latest News
Quoted: David Miliband on attacks on aid groups in Myanmar
Posted by The IRC on March 28, 2014
“Safe and unimpeded access to people who are in need is one of the very basic standards of international law,” says IRC president David Miliband, responding to recent attacks on humanitarian aid organizations in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

Bill Clinton, student volunteers dig in at the Phoenix New Roots garden
Posted by The IRC on March 28, 2014
On a sunny Sunday morning, a group of 600 college students from 300 universities gathered at a community garden in downtown Phoenix, ready for their day of service as part of the Clinton Global Initiative University 2014.

Inside Congo’s “Triangle of Death,” a bustling market becomes an oasis of hope
Posted by Tamara Leigh on March 27, 2014
Tens of thousands of people have recently fled their homes due to armed violence in remote areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Learn how a bustling market is helping to restore hope and opportunity to these familes.

Posted by The IRC on March 26, 2014
In an op-ed published by TIME this week, IRC president David Miliband writes that international law is being flouted daily in Syria. “Civilians are not just caught in the crossfire—they are targeted,” he says. more »

Posted by The IRC on March 26, 2014
Since 2007, the IRC has been working with local communities to repair existing water sources and provide access to new ones in a remote town in arid central Somalia. Watch this short film to find out more about the IRC’s lifesaving work.

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC Mar 28
Inside #DRC #Congo’s “Triangle of Death,” a bustling market becomes an oasis of hope–> http://bit.ly/1jEdTQW pic.twitter.com/2GC35PAzzV

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC Mar 27
#Syria, #Philippines, #SouthSudan to #CARcrisis: How can we manage one more ‘level 3’ emergency?, by @Heidi_Lehmann: http://bit.ly/1msXZt1

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC Mar 26
Just in: president @DMiliband’s op-ed on @TIME @TIMEIdeas: “#Syria’s Latest Victim: International Law” http://ti.me/1gXTK0i

Intl Rescue Comm IRC @theIRC Mar 25
Thousands flee to #Niger as violence returns to northern #Nigeria. @theIRC is there: http://bit.ly/1gjM6mJ pic.twitter.com/iwefnfUtuD