Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics (formerly Human Vaccines)
April 2014  Volume 10, Issue 4
http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/vaccines/toc/volume/10/issue/4/

Commentary
Vaccine refrigeration: Thinking outside of the box
Patrick J McColloster and Andres Martin-de-Nicolas
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.27660
Abstract
This commentary reviews recent changes in Centers for Disease Control (CDC) vaccine storage guidelines that were developed in response to an investigative report by the Office of the Inspector General. The use of temperature data loggers with probes residing in glycol vials is advised along with storing vaccines in pharmaceutical refrigerators. These refrigerators provide good thermal distribution but can warm to 8 °C in less than one hour after the power is discontinued. Consequently, electric grid instability influences appropriate refrigerator selection and the need for power back-up. System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) values quantify this instability and can be used to formulate region-specific guidelines. A novel aftermarket refrigerator regulator with a battery back-up power supply and microprocessor control system is also described.

Commentary
Coercion and polio eradication efforts in Moradabad
Christy A Rentmeester, Rajib Dasgupta, Kristen A Feemster and Randall M Packard
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.27667
Abstract
We introduce the problem of vaccine coercion as reported in Moradabad, India. We offer commentary and critical analysis on ethical complexities at the intersection of global public health and regional political strife and relate them to broader vaccine goals. We draw upon a historical example from malaria vaccine efforts, focusing specifically on ethical and health justice issues expressed through the use of coercion in vaccine administration. We suggest how coercion is indicative of failed leadership in public health and consider community-based collaborations as models for cultivating local investment and trust in vaccination campaigns and for success in global public health initiatives.

Research Paper
Measles epidemic from 1951 to 2012 and vaccine effectiveness in Guangzhou, southern China
Zhicong Yang, Jianxiong Xu, Ming Wang, Biao Di, Huifeng Tan, Qing He, Yanshan Cai, Jianhua Liang, Wensui Hu, Zhiqiang Dong and Chuanxi Fu
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/hv.27895
Abstract
Background:
Since the National Expanded Program on Immunization was implemented in China, considerable progress has been made in reducing the incidence of measles. However, the incidence of measles increased again in 2004. Few post-marketing studies on measles vaccine effectiveness was reported in China. In this study, we aimed to describe the measles epidemic and to evaluate the effectiveness of the measles vaccine in Guangzhou, southern China.
Methods:
Based on the surveillance data for measles, we investigated the epidemiology during different periods between 1951 and 2012. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of laboratory-confirmed cases of measles between 2009 and 2012 and conducted a case-control study using test-negative cases as controls. We determined the protective effect of measles vaccine.
Results:
The highest annual incidence in Guangzhou was 2187.15/100 000 in 1964, and the lowest was 0.32/100 000 in 2011. The average incidence of measles from 1951 to 2012 was 306.27/100 000. There was a significant tendency of decline in recent years. From 2009 to 2012, there are 700 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported with an average onset age of 2.5 (median) years. The non-vaccinated target population (age <8 months and ≥15 years) accounted for 56.7% of the cases. The transient (non-resident) population accounted for 51.3% of the cases. Fewer cases were observed in the population targeted for measles vaccine (aged 8 months to 14 years). The effectiveness of a single dose of the measles vaccine was 89.1% (95% confidence interval (CI), 44.5–97.9), and the effectiveness of ≥2 doses of the measles vaccine was 97.8% (95% CI, 88.3–99.6) in children aged 8 months to 14 years old.
Conclusions:
There is a significant overall decline in the incidence of measles (including clinical and laboratory confirmed cases) in the measles vaccine targeted population in Guangzhou. Two doses of measles vaccine are more effective than one dose in preventing measles in China. In order to accelerate the elimination of measles, vaccination should also be given to the transient and the non-vaccine targeted population in a national schedule.

Intervention – Journal of Mental Health and Psychological Support in Conflict Affected Areas
March 2014 – Volume 12 – Issue 1  pp: 2-165
http://journals.lww.com/interventionjnl/pages/currenttoc.aspx

Special Section
Peacebuilding and psychosocial work
Narrowing the gap between psychosocial practice, peacebuilding and wider social change: an introduction to the Special Section in this issue
Hamber, Brandon; Gallagher, Elizabeth; Ventevogel, Peter

Abstract
The terms ‘psychosocial interventions’ and ‘peacebuilding’ are often used as umbrella phrases. While each of these covers a widely diverging field, a primary goal of ‘psychosocial interventions’ is to improve wellbeing of individuals and families, while ‘peacebuilding’ tends to focus on communal and institutional processes. Psychosocial practitioners do not often see their work as directly related to social change, while those involved in peacebuilding initiatives can have a limiting focus on individual wellbeing. The authors argue that greater attention should be given to the synergies that could be created by linking psychosocial work with processes of social change and communal recovery, within the context of collective violence and humanitarian emergencies. The articles in this issue of ‘Intervention’ describe experiences within very different contexts (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma (Myanmar), Guatemala, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, occupied East Jerusalem, South Sudan and Rwanda), but their common thread is that they begin to show how psychosocial work can influence a peacebuilding environment and foster wider social change.

Intervention – Journal of Mental Health and Psychological Support in Conflict Affected Areas
March 2014 – Volume 12 – Issue 1  pp: 2-165
http://journals.lww.com/interventionjnl/pages/currenttoc.aspx

Field Reports
Do humanitarian crises offer opportunities for change? A critical review of the mental health and psychosocial support post emergency in the Republic of the Congo
Moayedoddin, Babak; Makaya, Christelle Nangho; Canuto, Alessandra

Abstract
Violent explosions rocked the city of Brazzaville (the capital of the Republic of the Congo) on 4 March 2012, officially causing more than 280 deaths and leaving approximately 15,000 people displaced. Two months after this event, despite a large number of people suffering from considerable psychological distress, few people had called for, or had received, appropriate mental health care or any external psychosocial support. A field evaluation, following this emergency, led to a critical review of the limited capacity of the mental health care system in Brazzaville to respond to the population’s needs. This evaluation also allowed a review of the current state of affairs in regard to mental health and psychosocial support by health care actors in Brazzaville. The crisis has, in this way, facilitated an increasing awareness and triggered a process of deeper examination of how to improve mental health care in the Republic of the Congo.

Intervention – Journal of Mental Health and Psychological Support in Conflict Affected Areas
March 2014 – Volume 12 – Issue 1  pp: 2-165
http://journals.lww.com/interventionjnl/pages/currenttoc.aspx

Field Reports
Integrating psychosocial support into nutrition programmes in West Africa during the Sahel food crisis
McGrath, Megan; Schafer, Alison

Abstract
For optimal physical and cognitive development to occur, a child requires adequate nutrition, but this should occur in addition to physical and emotional stimulation from a caregiver. Programmes, in which interventions for nutrition, maternal mental health and psychosocial stimulation are integrated, provide much wider benefits to a child’s psychical and cognitive development than stand-alone nutritional responses. With this in mind, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) prioritised the integration of psychosocial stimulation, within their nutrition response, during the West Africa Sahel food crisis. Brief trainings were organised within five West African countries in order to strengthen the capacity of UNICEF and partner organisations to initiate psychosocial activities within their nutritional programmes.

The Lancet  
Mar 15, 2014  Volume 383  Number 9921   p927 – 1012
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/current

Editorial
Global elderly care in crisis
The Lancet
Preview |
The world’s population is ageing rapidly at an unprecedented rate. The proportion of people aged over 60 years will double from about 11% to 22% between 2000 and 2050. Population ageing has profound implications for the burden of disease and social and health-care systems. How well prepared are countries to cope with these changing demographics? Unfortunately, current elderly care systems worldwide are already unable to address the soaring demand from fast growing numbers of older people, even in higher-income countries.

PLoS One
[Accessed 15 March 2014]
http://www.plosone.org/

Research Article
Knowledge and Awareness of HPV Vaccine and Acceptability to Vaccinate in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review
Stacey Perlman, Richard G. Wamai, Paul A. Bain, Thomas Welty, Edith Welty, Javier Gordon Ogembo mail
Published: March 11, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090912
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0090912

Abstract
Objectives
We assessed the knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer, HPV and HPV vaccine, and willingness and acceptability to vaccinate in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. We further identified countries that fulfill the two GAVI Alliance eligibility criteria to support nationwide HPV vaccination.

Methods
We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed studies on the knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer, HPV and HPV vaccine, and willingness and acceptability to vaccinate. Trends in Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) vaccine coverage in SSA countries from 1990–2011 were extracted from the World Health Organization database.

Findings
The review revealed high levels of willingness and acceptability of HPV vaccine but low levels of knowledge and awareness of cervical cancer, HPV or HPV vaccine. We identified only six countries to have met the two GAVI Alliance requirements for supporting introduction of HPV vaccine: 1) the ability to deliver multi-dose vaccines for no less than 50% of the target vaccination cohort in an average size district, and 2) achieving over 70% coverage of DTP3 vaccine nationally. From 2008 through 2011 all SSA countries, with the exception of Mauritania and Nigeria, have reached or maintained DTP3 coverage at 70% or above.

Conclusion
There is an urgent need for more education to inform the public about HPV, HPV vaccine, and cervical cancer, particularly to key demographics, (adolescents, parents and healthcare professionals), to leverage high levels of willingness and acceptability of HPV vaccine towards successful implementation of HPV vaccination programs. There is unpreparedness in most SSA countries to roll out national HPV vaccination as per the GAVI Alliance eligibility criteria for supporting introduction of the vaccine. In countries that have met 70% DTP3 coverage, pilot programs need to be rolled out to identify the best practice and strategies for delivering HPV vaccines to adolescents and also to qualify for GAVI Alliance support.

PLoS Medicine
(Accessed 15 March 2014)
http://www.plosmedicine.org/

Essay
Building Research Capacity in Africa: Equity and Global Health Collaborations
Kathryn M. Chu mail, Sudha Jayaraman, Patrick Kyamanywa, Georges Ntakiyiruta
Published: March 11, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001612
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001612

Summary Points
:: Global health has increased the number of high-income country (HIC) investigators conducting research in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
:: Partnerships with local collaborators rather than extractive research are needed.
:: LMICs have to take an active role in leading or directing these research collaborations in order to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm of inherently inequitable relationships.
:: This essay explores lessons from effective and equitable relationships that exist between African countries and HICs.

Introduction
Global health is a growing academic field where high-income country (HIC) faculty and students work in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in Africa; learn about new cultures, settings, and diseases; and possibly develop an expertise to address existing and emerging challenges in health care [1]. Global health has brought beneficial HIC medical knowledge particularly to African countries: expertise in health policy and planning from high-income settings has improved clinic and hospital infrastructure and practices such as neonatal resuscitation [2],[3]. In addition, research led and supported by HIC researchers has clearly identified preventive and therapeutic interventions for major causes of mortality such as severe malaria, HIV/AIDS, and childhood sepsis [4]–[7].

Worldwide, the highest burden of disease is from LMICs; however, medical research originating from these countries is low [8]. According to one study, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) produces less than 1% of biomedical publications [9]. Effective research has four pre-requisites: individual research skills and ability, appropriate infrastructure, relevance to national policies, and the ability to contribute to global research and policy needs [10]. African research capacity has not paralleled capacity in HIC for many reasons: few qualified researchers, less funding, poor infrastructure such as laboratories and computers, and lack of expertise in preparing manuscripts for publication [8]. Collaboration with HIC colleagues and institutions has enormous promise to bring expertise, funding, and resources to Africa. However, there is great potential for a power imbalance in these relationships. Much of the research carried out in Africa is led, funded, and published by HIC researchers without equal collaboration from LMIC colleagues. HIC scientists have been accused of extractive research, flying into an LMIC to obtain data or samples and leaving with the recognition and benefits of the publication.

Researchers collecting blood samples for studies have been termed “mosquitoes” or “vampires” [11],[12]. HIC investigators secure most of the funding for global health research projects and often dictate the research agenda [11]. If their values and objectives are different from African partners this can lead to inappropriate projects unrelated to local research needs, and derive conclusions that do not have any direct local benefit [13]. Some participants have commented that these kinds of collaborations leave locals feeling like “prostitutes” [14]. Furthermore, when HIC researchers conduct studies in settings that are unprepared in terms of infrastructure and health workers, research can disrupt local medical and educational services and have a detrimental effect on local health care, usually by taking already overworked health care providers away from their clinical and teaching duties [11],[14],[15].

HIC academics work for universities that typically measure the success of their faculty by research funding and publications. Even if HIC scientists genuinely want to advance African research agendas, building the research capacity of African collaborators may not be an important objective to their institutions [13],[14].

The Challenge
A few questions arise when considering how to engage in equitable global health research:
–       How can African institutions and physicians benefit from international research collaborations without being exploited?
–       How can advancement of African research capacity and academic careers be prioritized while satisfying the “publish or perish” mandate of HIC universities?
–       How do African scientists and governments coordinate the great influx of HIC academics who view the continent as the next frontier in global health research?

This essay describes some of the important steps for African researchers and academic institutions to consider in managing global health research partnerships in their settings

Risk Analysis
February 2014  Volume 34, Issue 2  Pages 203–398
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/risa.2014.34.issue-2/issuetoc
Article first published online: 4 MAR 2014

Original Research Article
State of the Art in Risk Analysis of Workforce Criticality Influencing Disaster Preparedness for Interdependent Systems
Joost R. Santos1,*, Lucia Castro Herrera1, Krista Danielle S. Yu2, Sheree Ann T. Pagsuyoin3 andRaymond R. Tan4
DOI: 10.1111/risa.12183

Abstract
The objective of this article is to discuss a needed paradigm shift in disaster risk analysis to emphasize the role of the workforce in managing the recovery of interdependent infrastructure and economic systems. Much of the work that has been done on disaster risk analysis has focused primarily on preparedness and recovery strategies for disrupted infrastructure systems. The reliability of systems such as transportation, electric power, and telecommunications is crucial in sustaining business processes, supply chains, and regional livelihoods, as well as ensuring the availability of vital services in the aftermath of disasters. There has been a growing momentum in recognizing workforce criticality in the aftermath of disasters; nevertheless, significant gaps still remain in modeling, assessing, and managing workforce disruptions and their associated ripple effects to other interdependent systems. The workforce plays a pivotal role in ensuring that a disrupted region continues to function and subsequently recover from the adverse effects of disasters. With this in mind, this article presents a review of recent studies that have underscored the criticality of workforce sectors in formulating synergistic preparedness and recovery policies for interdependent infrastructure and regional economic systems.

Journal of Policy and Complex Systems
Volume 1, Issue 1, pages 4-21 Spring 2014
http://www.ipsonet.org/publications/open-access/policy-and-complex-systems/policy-and-complex-systems-volume-1-issue-1-spring-2014

Complexity, Innovation, and Development: Schumpeter Revisited
Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa

ABSTRACT
The role of innovation and entrepreneurship is increasingly getting policy attention in emerging countries. A growing body of literature is deriving its inspiration from the work of Joseph Schumpeter. His seminal 1911 book, The Theory of Economic Development, outlined a general framework for understanding the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in economic transformation. Despite Schumpeter’s influence on economic policies in industrialized countries, there has been little application of his work in emerging countries. On surface, the failure to apply Schumpeter’s ideas to emerging countries appears to be an intellectual oversight. To the contrary, this paper argues that the application of Schumpeter’s ideas to emerging countries was debated through the 1950s, but early architects of development studies deemed it to be irrelevant. The core of the rejection was an epistemological clash between Schumpeter’s systems approach to economic transformation and that of his critics who adhered to a more static, linear, and incremental view of economic change. Thus, Schumpeter’s central themes of innovation and entrepreneurship focused on endogenous transformation and evolution of economies, while his critics, who focused on the importance of central planning, relied on equilibrium models reflected in the role of bureaucracies as economic sources of stability.

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies
Volume 12, Issue 1, 2014
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wimm20/current#.UyWnvIUWNdc

Human Security Issues of Somali Refugees and the Host Community in Northeastern Kenya
Asfaw Kumssaa* & John F. Jonesb
pages 27-46
DOI: 10.1080/15562948.2013.810797
Published online: 11 Mar 2014
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15562948.2013.810797#.UyWnS4UWNdc

Abstract
Conflict, combined with frequent droughts, has worsened the economic and social conditions of Somalis and forced them to migrate to neighboring countries, mainly Kenya. Most of the refugees are housed in Dadaab refugee camp in Garissa county. The camp is home to almost half a million refugees, which is considerably more than the planned capacity of the camp. This is a research study of Somali refugees’ and the host community’s human security issues and how to build the capacities of both the refugees and the community in new skills for alternative livelihood creation and conflict prevention. The purpose is to empower both the refugees and the host community in a fragile social environment.

Genocide Studies International
Number 1 /2014
http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/p01472101mw2/?p=6649d9c03b8e46d9950aa563cab265d2&pi=0

Issue Theme: The Failure of Prevention
Preventing Genocide and Protecting Human Rights: A Failure of Policy
Herbert Hirsch
http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/tg4hg875252855g4/?p=24422eb2719544788f2814b3e00a7cd0&pi=0
Abstract
This article introduces the renamed journal Genocide Studies International. It notes that the journal’s focus will be on policy designed to prevent genocide and protect human rights. In order to reinforce this perspective, it contains a critique of the contemporary state of genocide studies and calls for a greater emphasis on policy

Failure to Prevent Genocide in Sudan and the Consequences of Impunity: Darfur as Precedent for Abyei, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile
Eric Reeves
Abstract
The responsibility to protect, adopted with such enthusiastic fanfare at the September 2005 UN World Summit, has proved an abject failure in defining international policy in Sudan. On the contrary, impunity continues to be afforded to even the most egregious atrocity crimes committed by Khartoum’s National Islamic Front/National Congress Party regime, which has been waging a genocidal counterinsurgency campaign in Darfur since early 2003. This impunity extends to the world’s refusal to respond meaningfully to the regime’s military seizure of the contested Abyei region—displacing more than 100,000 of the indigenous Dinka Ngok—and the subsequent genocidal campaign against the people of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. Sudan loomed as the test case for the responsibility to protect doctrine as defined by paragraphs 138 and 139 of the World Summit’s Outcome Document. In the assessment of this essay, its failure has been complete.

International Migration Review
December 2013   Volume 47, Issue 4  Pages 783–1045
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imre.2013.47.issue-4/issuetoc

Original Article
Islamic Migrant Organizations: Little‐Studied Actors in Humanitarian Action
Kerstin Rosenow-Williams1 and Zeynep Sezgin2
DOI: 10.1111/imre.12061
Article first published online: 7 MAR 2014
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imre.12061/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false

 Abstract
Since 9/11, attention to Islamic migrant organizations within Western countries has grown. However, the humanitarian activities of these organizations have received only limited attention. Hence, it is not yet clear why these organizations engage in humanitarian crises, which specific role Islam plays in their humanitarian engagement and which factors influence the scope of their activities in humanitarian crises. This paper aims to address these research questions by using approaches from sociology of organizations and presenting three empirical case studies from Germany. Particularly, it argues that although all three case studies are active in humanitarian crises the scope of their activities differs due to their differing organizational characteristics, member interests and external expectations.

Disasters
April 2014  Volume 38, Issue 2 Pages 227–450
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/disa.2014.38.issue-2/issuetoc

Papers
Challenges in humanitarian information management and exchange: evidence from Haiti
Nezih Altay1,* and Melissa Labonte2
Article first published online: 7 MAR 2014
DOI: 10.1111/disa.12052
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/disa.12052/abstract?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false

Abstract
There is a growing recognition of the critical role information management can play in shaping effective humanitarian response, coordination and decision-making. Quality information, reaching more humanitarian actors, will result in better coordination and better decision-making, thus improving the response to beneficiaries as well as accountability to donors. The humanitarian response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake marked a watershed moment for humanitarian information management. Yet the fragmented nature of the response and the use of hierarchical models of information management, along with other factors, have led some observers to label the Haiti response a failure. Using an analytical framework often found in humanitarian emergencies, this study analyses challenges to information flow in the Haiti case and the implications for effective humanitarian response. It concludes by offering possible paths for overcoming such challenges, and for restoring the value and utility of humanitarian information management and exchange in humanitarian relief settings.

NIST (US National Institute of Standards and Technology – Data Science Symposium Proceedings
March 4-5, 2014
Abstracts for posters

[PDF] UTILIZING BIG SOCIAL MEDIA DATA FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND DISASTER RELIEF
FRED MORSTATTER, SHAMANTH KUMAR, HUAN LIU
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

Disaster response agencies have started to incorporate social media as a source of fast-breaking information to understand the needs of people affected by the many crises that occur around the world. Twitter, one example of social media, produces over 500 million status updates each day. The volume of this data is too much for first responders to consume through manual analysis. New systems and approaches are needed to help first responders obtain situational awareness during a disaster using social media data. We discuss two social media tools that we have developed to assist first responders with the challenge of understanding this deluge of big social media data.

TweetTracker is a tweet collection and aggregation system that addresses the problem of collecting big social media data for first responders in disaster scenarios. Using TweetTracker, first responders enter queries related to a disaster as the event unfolds. From here, TweetTracker addresses the ETL process of our big data workflow. Once these queries are entered into the system, TweetTracker extracts matching tweets from Twitter using Twitter’s APIs. To answer queries in real-time, TweetTracker performs several transformations on each tweet, including: keyword extraction, user profile location translation, and several optimizations for indexing. Finally, TweetTracker

loads the TweetXplorer is a visualization system that addresses the challenge of understanding the big data generated during crisis on social media. It helps first responders to understand the data via some visual analytic components.

TweetXplorer focuses on emphasizing some key facets of disaster data to first responders, including: when relevant keywords are important, who are the most influential tweeters, and where are the geographic regions with the most requests for help.

These systems have helped first responders to find areas of need in recent crises including Typhoon Haiyan to generate an after-action report of the areas of need. They were also used during Hurricane Sandy to assess how social media could best be used to deliver aid. Our systems are the first of their kind to aid first responders in making sense of the fast, noisy, and big data generated on social media.

HICSS ’14 Proceedings of the 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
IEEE Computer Society Washington, DC,
Increasing Efficiency of Humanitarian Organizations with Volunteer Driven Information Products
Kenny Meesters, Bartel Van de Wall
Pages 149-158
ISBN: 978-1-4799-2504-9 doi>10.1109/HICSS.2014.27

Abstract
Emerging technologies provide new opportunities to humanitarian organizations for enhancing their response to crisis situations. Since the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, online volunteer communities have been activated to gather data and generate information products to improve humanitarian organizations’ situational awareness and decision making. However, how and to what extent these information products influence the operations and organizational routines of the humanitarian organizations is a matter of considerable debate. In this paper we introduce an evaluation method to determine the impact of these new opportunities. Built on existing evaluation design principles for information systems, the resulting framework is used to identify the relevant impact factors in creating and using volunteer driven information products. Our results show that, despite the high response time and technical expertise, the organizational performance impact is inhibited by the limited embedding of volunteer driven information products in the organization. Using the presented evaluation tool the impact of other deployments can be determined and improved in a similar manner.

UN commemoration of IWD 2014: Speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Posted on March 7, 2014
Speech by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for UN commemoration of International Women’s Day 2014

Excerpt – Closing Language
…Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,
In just two days, the 58th Commission on the Status of Women will begin.

It will focus on the challenges and achievements in meeting the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls.

There have been important advances – more in girls in schools, more women in parliaments.

Yet progress has been far too slow and uneven.

A baby girl born today will still face inequality and discrimination, no matter where her mother lives.

We must commit to her right to live free from the violence that affects one in three women globally; to equal pay for equal work; to an equal say in the decisions that affect her life; and to her fundamental right to decide if and when she will have children, and how many she will have.

To every girl born today, and to every woman and girl on the planet, our message is that human rights are not a dream.

They are they are a duty for which we must all work until they are universally realized.

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

Next year will mark 20 years since the Beijing Women’s Conference – a Conference on which Secretary Clinton played such an instrumental role.

Next year is also the deadline for our work to craft the post-2015 agenda and sustainable development goals.

Women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality are essential components of this conversation – including fundamental sexual and reproductive rights and ending violence against women.

This is a conversation for all.

That is why today I make a special appeal to the men and boys of the world:  Join us.

Take the message forward in your homes, your workplaces, your schools, and your communities:

Where men and women have equal rights, societies prosper.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let us recommit to equality and empowerment in all that we do.

Equality for women is progress for all.
Thank you.

UN commemoration of International Women’s Day 2014: Speech by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Posted on March 7, 2014
Speech by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka for International Women’s Day, at the UN, New York, 7 March 2014

Excerpt – Closing Language
…That bold action is to embed women’s rights, women’s empowerment and gender equality in all we do, now and beyond 2015 and provide measurements and modalities that will give us significant impact that is also transformative. The 21st century offers an opportunity for a big leap forward – not just baby steps.

The key message that captures what we actually need to do is what I call the SHE imperative.
– S stands for the Security of women and girls from all forms of violence,
– H stands for her Human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, land rights, equal pay, recognition of unpaid care, and all the rights and opportunities to which she is entitled.
– E stands for an Empowered decision-making and full leadership and participation in all spheres of life.

This is the SHE imperative that many of you have embraced as a transformative goal for gender equality to take forward the unfinished business of the MDGs … together with gender mainstreaming across all other goals.

Today, I want to speak directly to men and boys around the world.

Firstly, I commend those of you who have spoken out and stand with women and girls as they hold up half of the sky. We call on all men to also take a stand and hold up their half of the sky to speak out and to take action. Because silence and inaction of good men conspire against women.

In a minute I will unveil our new initiative, where men will call on their brothers, fathers, sons and friends to stand up for their sisters, mothers, daughters and partners in our He for She campaign.

This is part of our larger effort leading up to the Beijing+20 commemoration in 2015.

In the He for She campaign, I invite you – men and boys of the world – who make up the other half of humanity, to act for change wherever you are, in your streets, your churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, your villages and your cities and be VISIBLE AND VOCAL. Visit the website and Join us in the HeForShe digital platform which we now present and simultaneously our website goes live.

Greater sustained actions are needed. And more urgent actions. We can and must do better because equality for women is progress for all!

Statement: Message from WHO Director-General on International Women’s Day
WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan
7 March 2014

[Full text; Editor’s bolded text]
On this day, WHO joins others in celebrating women’s achievements. These achievements are inspiring, and they can inspire change. In health development, as in many other areas, women are agents of change. They are the driving force that creates better lives for families, communities and, increasingly, the countries they have been elected to govern.

As I have learned from my discussions with parliaments in several countries, women are increasingly winning top leadership roles, in rich and poor countries alike, and this helps shape entire societies in broadly beneficial ways. Every time a women excels in a high-profile position, her achievement lifts the social status of women everywhere.

To inspire change, all women need to be free to achieve their full potential. This means freedom from all forms of discrimination, freedom to pursue all opportunities, including education, freedom to earn and spend their own income, and freedom to follow the career paths they decide they want.

The health sector can do much to free women by ensuring they have access to all the health services they need, including sexual and reproductive health services. Participants at last year’s London Summit on Family Planning achieved a breakthrough commitment to halve the number of girls and women in developing countries who want modern contraceptives but have no access. This commitment will give 120 million additional women the right to decide whether, when, and how many children they want to have. This, too, is freedom.

Throughout history, women have been associated with care and compassion. Worldwide, up to 80% of health care is provided in the home, almost always by women. This should inspire our admiration, but it should also underscore the need for change. Most of this work is unsupported, unrecognized, and unpaid.

   Polio is on the verge of eradication largely thanks to the millions of women – from vaccinators to administrators to medical doctors and mothers – who have made the vaccination and protection of children their life’s mission. On this International Women’s Day, let me thank these women for a level of dedication that can improve the world in a permanent way.

UN Commission on the Status of Women CSW58 (2014)
Implementing the MDGs for Women and Girls
10-21 March 2014
United Nations Headquarters, New York

Priority theme: Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls
The draft agreed conclusions are now available.

Review theme: Access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work (agreed conclusions from the fifty-fifth session)

Emerging issue: Women’s access to productive resources

CSW website: http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw58-2014

Report: Women’s Lives and Challenges: Equality and Empowerment since 2000
March 2014
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program
Sara K. Head, Sally Zweimueller, Claudia Marchena, and Elliott Hoel of ICF International.

Full Report:  http://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/OD66/OD66.pdf

Excerpt from Introduction
This report assesses the progress made toward gender equality and women’s empowerment since the MDGs were adopted in 2000. It summarizes findings from 95 surveys conducted by MEASURE DHS in 47 countries from 2000 to 2011. While the largest group of countries comes from sub-Saharan Africa, every region of the developing world is represented. Data on trends are available for 33 countries that hosted 2 or more surveys in this time period.

Together these data give us an accurate picture of women’s lives. They describe the current status of women around the world and show how much change, for better or worse, has occurred since 2000. The findings also suggest how much work remains to achieve the MDGs and broader goals related to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Dozens of indicators pinpoint areas of progress and areas that lag behind.

The findings are organized around three outcomes proposed by USAID’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy.1

The first chapter, “Resources for Empowerment and Equality,” explores gender disparities in resources, services, and opportunities. It examines women’s access to basic building blocks of empowerment, including education, employment, and health care, as well as barriers to educational and economic opportunities, such as ill health and early marriage.

The second chapter, “Women’s Control of their Own Lives,” examines whether women’s ability to realize their rights and determine their life outcomes has increased. It investigates how much influence women have in key areas of their daily lives: making household decisions, deciding how earnings are used, planning their families, and negotiating sex.

The third chapter, “Violence in Women’s Lives,” assesses the success of efforts to reduce gender-based violence and mitigate its effects. It examines women’s experience of intimate partner violence and female genital cutting. It also explores whether survivors of violence feel empowered to seek help.

While the focus is on women, the report presents men’s data where available. Comparing women’s and men’s experiences allows us to identify gender disparities and measure their extent; it also provides some insights on broader social norms and attitudes. In addition, a series of boxes highlights countries that are considered to be areas of conflict and insecurity by the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security.2 When empowered, women can play critical roles in preventing conflict and building peace.