Migration
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How Immigrants Contribute to Developing Countries’ Economies
OECD/ILO
Published on January 24, 2018 :: 194 pages
PDF: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/4118021e.pdf?expires=1517109189&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=7E437135340119D008585ED433FE9FC4
Executive summary
With more than one-third of international migrants residing in developing countries, immigration has an increasing weight on the socioeconomic development of low- and middle-income countries. Yet, policy debate on how immigrants affect host countries often relies more on perception than evidence. A more systematic analysis on the economic impact of labour immigration in developing countries will better inform policy makers to formulate policies aiming to make the most of immigration in destination countries.

The project Assessing the Economic Contribution of Labour Migration in Developing Countries as Countries of Destination (ECLM) – carried out by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organization and co-financed by the European Union – was conceived to provide such analysis. This report synthesises the findings of the project, conducted between 2014 and 2018 in ten partner countries – Argentina, Cote d’Ivoire, Costa Rica, the Dominican
Republic, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand –, puts them in the context of global analysis and provides evidence on the impact of labour immigration on the
development of host countries, and presents the main policy recommendations.

The contribution of immigrants to developing countries’ economies
Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the analysis in this report focuses on three main dimensions of the economic contribution of immigrants in developing countries: labour markets, economic growth and public finance.

:: Labour markets: How well immigrants are integrated into the host country’s labour market is directly linked with their economic contribution to their destination countries. Immigrants in most partner countries have higher labour force participation and employment rates than native-born workers. However, the quality of jobs immigrants take remains a concern because they often face a lack of decent work.
Does immigration affect – either positively or negatively – the labour market outcomes of native-born workers? The analysis in the ten developing countries shows that the overall impact of immigration is negligible. The results, however, are diverse and highly contextual. This is in line with the majority of research on OECD countries which finds only a small effect.

:: Economic growth: The estimated contribution of immigrants to gross domestic product (GDP) ranges from about 1% in Ghana to 19% in Cote d’Ivoire, with an average of 7%. The immigrants’ contribution to value added exceeds their population share in employment in half of the partner countries. In countries where this is not the case, the differences were small. Overall, immigration is unlikely to depress GDP per capita. The analysis on how immigration affects productivity reveals less clear results. Various research methods were employed across the countries depending on data availability.

:: Public finance: How do immigrants affect the fiscal balance and the quality of public services in developing countries? Immigrants help increase overall public revenues, but the increase may not be always sufficient to offset the public expenditures they generate. This is the case for two countries, Kyrgyzstan and Nepal, where the deficit is less than 1% of GDP. In the other seven partner countries for which data are available, the net direct fiscal impact of immigrants is positive but below 1% of GDP. Overall, immigrants’ net fiscal contribution is therefore generally positive but limited. This is in line with the available evidence for OECD countries.

Migration

More than Numbers: How migration data can deliver real-life benefits
Final version for World Economic Forumin Davos on 24 January 2018
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and McKinsey & Company
2018 :: 124 pages
PDF: https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/more_than_numbers.pdf
Summary
Migration is a complex global challenge. Around 258 million people are currently estimated to be residing outside their country of birth – a number that has almost tripled in the past 50 years. This has policy implications across a myriad of dimensions ranging from border management to labour market participation and integration.

Decision makers absolutely need one thing to devise appropriate policies: reliable information. Relevant, high-quality data is critical for designing, implementing and evaluating policies that can generate substantial economic, social and humanitarian benefits for countries and migrants alike.

Despite widespread consensus on the importance of data to manage migration effectively, the current availability of relevant and reliable data is still very limited. Even when data is available, it is often not used to its full potential (including new data which is being produced in abundance from digital devices). Unfortunately, the current debate focuses far too much on how to get more and better data – a technical debate for experts in the engine room of politics. This report aims to shift this debate from theory into practice. Decision makers need to be convinced of the value that migration data can deliver.

This report is intended to support decision makers in capturing concrete economic, social and humanitarian benefits in line with targets they choose to prioritize – by leveraging the data that matters.

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Press Release
Investing in Better Migration Data Could be Worth Over USD 35 Billion
01/24/18
World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland – Could better use of data help turn human mobility into an asset worth tens of billions of dollars?

That’s the finding of a study by the UN Migration Agency’s (IOM) Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC), working with the McKinsey Centre for Government (MCG), being released today at Davos’ World Economic Forum.

In the new report, entitled “More than Numbers: How migration data can deliver real-life benefits”, IOM and MCG illustrate how investing in better data can help manage migration more effectively and illustrates clear examples of this.

The International Organization for Migration´s Director General William Lacy Swing explained in launching the report: “Too often, data are seen as the abstract business of experts operating in backrooms. Yet data are essential to produce real-life results such as protecting migrants in vulnerable situations, fill labour market shortages and improve integration, manage asylum procedures, ensure the humane return of migrants ordered to leave or increase remittance flows.”

“In this report, we have taken a fresh perspective on migration data and statistics, one that could benefit the entire development world. By taking a value based approach to migration data we can ensure that investment is squarely focused on impact. Ultimately, if governments want to see better outcomes they need to prioritise more relevant data, not just more data.” Said Solveigh Hieronimus, Partner at McKinsey & Company.

The report illuminates how investing in migration data can bring huge economic, social and humanitarian benefits. It provides detailed calculations of these benefits, across a range of different policy areas, and for both developed and developing countries. Looking ahead, the report provides guidance to countries interested in realising these benefits and suggests ways in which they could develop their own strategies to improve data on migration.

For example, many migrants to the European Union have skills that do not match their jobs. Using data to reduce over-qualification would increase the income of migrants in the EU by EUR 6 billion, the report calculates…

:

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 24 January 2018 [GPEI]
:: New on http://polioeradication.org/: In one of the final strongholds of the poliovirus, vaccination coverage is improving thanks to the women working to access children.
:: In Pakistan, we documented some of the high-risk mobile children that must be visited by vaccinators during the low transmission season.
::  By expanding environmental surveillance, Afghanistan hopes to track the movement of poliovirus with more accuracy than ever before.

:: Summary of newly-reported viruses this week:
…Afghanistan:  One new case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) has been reported in Nangarhar province. One new WPV1 positive environmental sample has been reported in Kandahar province.
… Pakistan: Two new WPV1 positive environmental samples have been reported, one collected from Sindh province, and one from Balochistan province.

::::::
 
Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 31, 23 January 2018
Situation update 23 January 2018
:: No new cases of cVDPV2 were reported this week. The total number of cVDPV2 cases remains 74. The most recent case (by date of onset of paralysis) is 21 September 2017 from Boukamal district, Deir Ez-Zor governorate.
:: The first round of the second phase of the outbreak response has been completed in all governorates (Deir Ez-Zor, Homs, Hasakah and Raqqa) with vaccination activities finishing on 21 January.
:: Administrative data has been received from all areas except eastern Deir Ez-Zor.
:: Post-campaign monitoring began 21 January in all governorates.
:: Preparation for the second round (IPV) continues. Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) partners continue to assist.

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 27 January 2018]
The Syrian Arab Republic
:: Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 31, 23 January 2018
[See Polio above for detail]

Yemen
:: WHO airlifts 200 tonnes of health supplies to Yemen
SANA’A, 18 January 2018 — The World Health Organization has delivered 200 tonnes of life-saving medicines and health supplies to Yemen. Four United Nations planes carrying the cargo landed in Sana’a Airport this week.
The shipments include essential medicines, insulin vials, antibiotics, rabies vaccines, intravenous (IV) fluids, and other medical supplies and equipment…

Nigeria 
Nigeria set to vaccinate 25 million people, its biggest yellow fever campaign ever  24 January 2018
[See Yellow Fever below for more detail]
 
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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 27 January 2018]
Ukraine
:: Ukraine’s efforts to stop measles outbreak continue as case total increases
16 January 2018 — Measles continues to spread in Ukraine, with new cases now being reported in all oblasts and Kyiv. These cases are the latest in an expanding outbreak that affected over 3000 people and claimed the lives of 5 children and adults in 2017, according to preliminary data. The latest information from other countries in the WHO European Region also indicates a rise in cases, including large measles outbreaks affecting Greece, Italy and Romania.

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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
:: 26 Jan 2018 – Is the world becoming numb to the killing of children? – Statement by Fran Equiza, UNICEF Representative in Syria [EN/AR]

DRC  
:: Deteriorating humanitarian crisis in DR Congo demands largest ever appeal
(Kinshasa, 18 January 2018) The dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2017 has forced humanitarian actors to launch an appeal for USD 1.68 billion for 2018, the largest ever funding appeal for the country where 13.1 million people require humanitarian assistance.
The funding is required to urgently assist some 10.5 million Congolese people in 2018. Geographical expansion of the humanitarian needs and worsening situations in existing crisis hotspots all require a step change of the response of the international community to address life-threatening humanitarian and protection needs…

Yemen 
:: 20 Jan 2018  US$ 2.96 billion needed to provide life-saving assistance to 13.1 million people in Yemen in 2018 [EN/AR]
 
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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.
ROHINGYA REFUGEE CRISIS
:: ISCG Situation Update: Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Cox’s Bazar | 21 January 2018

Ethiopia  
:: 23 Jan 2018  Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 45 | 08 – 20 January 2018
HIGHLIGHTS
…Opening of Gaaluun bridge at Dawa river improves humanitarian access to Dawa zone.
…As part of the national plan to rehabilitate internally displaced persons in Oromia and Somali regions, the Oromia region is settling some 86,000 IDPs in 12 towns across the region.
…An ‘Alert’ released by Government and humanitarian partners estimated up to 7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in the first half of 2018, requiring some US$895 milliON
 
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Editor’s Note:
We will cluster these recent emergencies as below and continue to monitor the WHO webpages for updates and key developments.

MERS-CoV [to 27 January 2018]
http://www.who.int/emergencies/mers-cov/en/
DONS
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia  26 January 2018
Between 9 December 2017 and 17 January 2018, the National IHR Focal Point of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reported 20 additional cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), including eight deaths. In addition, one death from a previously reported case was reported to WHO…
 
Yellow Fever  [to 27 January 2018]
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/yellowfev/en/
:: Brazil launches world’s largest campaign with fractional-dose yellow fever vaccine
Brasilia, January 25, 2018 (PAHO) – Brazil today launched a mass immunization campaign that will deliver fractional doses of yellow fever vaccine to residents of 69 municipalities in the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The strategic plan for the campaign was developed with support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It will be the world’s largest vaccination campaign, to date, using fractional doses of yellow fever vaccine.
Some 23.8 million people are expected to be vaccinated during the campaign, including 10.3 million in the state of São Paulo and 10 million in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The state of Bahia is expected to begin vaccinating on 19 February 2018 with an estimated target population of 3.3 million people to be reached with the vaccine..

:: Nigeria set to vaccinate 25 million people, its biggest yellow fever campaign ever
24 January 2018, Abuja – The Government of Nigeria will launch a mass vaccination campaign to prevent the spread of yellow fever on Thursday (January 25) with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners. More than 25 million people will be vaccinated throughout 2018, in the largest yellow fever vaccination drive in the country’s history.
The immunization plan is part of efforts to eliminate yellow fever epidemics globally by 2026. The preventive campaign will use vaccines funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and will be supported by UNICEF. It will begin on 25 January in Kogi, Kwara and Zamfara states, and then move to Borno state where the campaign will focus on camps for internally displaced persons and surrounding host communities. More than 8.6 million people will be vaccinated in the four states in the coming days.
“The goal of the Yellow Fever Preventive Mass Vaccination Campaign is to reduce yellow fever transmission by achieving 90% coverage in implementing States and Local Government Areas in line with the strategy for the Elimination of Yellow fever Epidemics by 2026,” said Dr Faisal Shuaib, Executive Director of National Primary Healthcare Development Agency…

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 20 January 2018

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 version: The Sentinel_ period ending 20 January 2018

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research
:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Governance – “Uncouth Words”

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African Union – Press Statement for Immediate Release ECOSOCC’s Response to President Trump’s ‘Shithole Remarks’
January 16, 2018
African Civil society under the auspices of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) of the African Union received with utter shock the news of the uncouth words used by the President of the United States in reference to African people and people of African descent. We condemn in the strongest terms the racist undertones of this language and the clear expression of naivety about the place, role and value of African people by the President of the United States.

In Africa we highly respect elders and the language that elders use should be respectful and one that befits the positions that they hold. The President of the United States should be an elder and should exude wisdom, deep respect of cultural and social diversity and value of humanity. But unfortunately the President of the United States seems to be depicting the contrary!

We therefore call upon all citizens’ and peoples’ groups, religious and faith leaders, private sector and professional organizations, academics and civic actors in the US and Africa to condemn this language in the strongest terms. Citizens across the world should be respected for what they are and referred to in appropriate and respectful language. To continue to propagate racism through language in the world, is to fuel other types of violent behaviors that we see around the world.

We ask that the US President seriously considers withdrawing this statement and issue a public apology to the all Africans and people of African descent in the world. The President should note that the social, economic and cultural contributions of Africans in the United States is one of the highest in the world. The United States has a big number of African people in a diversity of professions that do not fit the despicable description used by the US President.

One of the Agenda 2063 Aspirations developed by African people and its leaders is: An Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics. ECOSOCC as an Organ that promotes and popularizes the Agenda 2063 and strives to build an Africa and world that is ethical and value-based. We therefore call upon the President of the United States to embrace this aspiration and other progressive and positive aspirations of the African people.

African civil society and ECOSOCC therefore joins the rest of the world to condemn the language of the President of the United States of America. We call upon the President of the United States to restrain himself as well as educate himself about the world and its people and ensure that he espouses the values that the United States people have been known for over the ages.

Democracy in Crisis: Freedom in the World 2018
Freedom House 2018
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018
This report was made possible by the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation and the Lilly Endowment. Freedom House also gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Reed Foundation, the Achelis & Bodman Foundation, David L. Fogel, and additional private contributors who wish to remain anonymous.

Key Findings
:: Democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades in 2017 as its basic tenets—including guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press, and the rule of law—came under attack around the world.
:: Seventy-one countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties, with only 35 registering gains. This marked the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.
:: The United States retreated from its traditional role as both a champion and an exemplar of democracy amid an accelerating decline in American political rights and civil liberties.
:: Over the period since the 12-year global slide began in 2006, 113 countries have seen a net decline, and only 62 have experienced a net improvement.

The challenges within democratic states have fueled the rise of populist leaders who appeal to anti-immigrant sentiment and give short shrift to fundamental civil and political liberties. Right-wing populists gained votes and parliamentary seats in France, the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria during 2017. While they were kept out of government in all but Austria, their success at the polls helped to weaken established parties on both the right and left. Centrist newcomer Emmanuel Macron handily won the French presidency, but in Germany and the Netherlands, mainstream parties struggled to create stable governing coalitions.

Perhaps worst of all, and most worrisome for the future, young people, who have little memory of the long struggles against fascism and communism, may be losing faith and interest in the democratic project. The very idea of democracy and its promotion has been tarnished among many, contributing to a dangerous apathy.

The retreat of democracies is troubling enough. Yet at the same time, the world’s leading autocracies, China and Russia, have seized the opportunity not only to step up internal repression but also to export their malign influence to other countries, which are increasingly copying their behavior and adopting their disdain for democracy. A confident Chinese president Xi Jinping recently proclaimed that China is “blazing a new trail” for developing countries to follow. It is a path that includes politicized courts, intolerance for dissent, and predetermined elections…

Risk Governance

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The Global Risks Report 2018
World Economic Forum
2018 – 13th Edition : 80 pages
PDF: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GRR18_Report.pdf
Executive Summary [Editor’s text bolding]
Last year’s Global Risks Report was published at a time of heightened global uncertainty and strengthening popular discontent with the existing political and economic order. The report called for “fundamental reforms to market capitalism” and a rebuilding of solidarity within and between countries. One year on, a global economic recovery is under way, offering new opportunities for progress that should not be squandered: the urgency of facing up to systemic challenges has, if anything, intensified amid proliferating indications of uncertainty, instability and fragility.

Humanity has become remarkably adept at understanding how to mitigate conventional risks that can be relatively easily isolated and managed with standard risk management approaches. But we are much less competent when it comes to dealing with complex risks in the interconnected systems that underpin our world, such as organizations, economies, societies and the environment. There are signs of strain in many of these systems: our accelerating pace of change is testing the absorptive capacities of institutions, communities and individuals. When risk cascades through a complex system, the danger is not of incremental damage but of “runaway collapse” or an abrupt transition to a new, suboptimal status quo.

In our annual Global Risks Perception Survey, environmental risks have grown in prominence in recent years. This trend has continued this year, with all five risks in the environmental category being ranked higher than average for both likelihood and impact over a 10-year horizon. This follows a year characterized by high-impact hurricanes, extreme temperatures and the first rise in CO2 emissions for four years. We have been pushing our planet to the brink and the damage is becoming increasingly clear. Biodiversity is being lost at mass-extinction rates, agricultural systems are under strain and pollution of the air and sea has become an increasingly pressing threat to human health. A trend towards nation-state unilateralism may make it more difficult to sustain the long-term, multilateral responses that are required to counter global warming and the degradation of the global environment.

Cybersecurity risks are also growing, both in their prevalence and in their disruptive potential. Attacks against businesses have almost doubled in five years, and incidents that would once have been considered extraordinary are becoming more and more commonplace. The financial impact of cybersecurity breaches is rising, and some of the largest costs in 2017 related to ransomware attacks, which accounted for 64% of all malicious emails. Notable examples included the WannaCry attack — which affected 300,000 computers across 150 countries—and NotPetya, which caused quarterly losses of US$300 million for a number of affected businesses. Another growing trend is the use of cyberattacks to target critical infrastructure and strategic industrial sectors, raising fears that, in a worst-case scenario, attackers could trigger a breakdown in the systems that keep societies functioning.

Headline economic indicators suggest the world is finally getting back on track after the global crisis that erupted 10 years ago, but this upbeat picture masks continuing underlying concerns. The global economy faces a mix of long-standing vulnerabilities and newer threats that have emerged or evolved in the years since the crisis. The familiar risks include potentially unsustainable asset prices, with the world now eight years into a bull run; elevated indebtedness, particularly in China; and continuing strains in the global financial system.

Among the newer challenges are limited policy firepower in the event of a new crisis; disruptions caused by intensifying patterns of automation and digitalization; and a build-up of mercantilist and protectionist pressures against a backdrop of rising nationalist and populist politics.

The world has moved into a new and unsettling geopolitical phase. Multilateral rules-based approaches have been fraying. Re-establishing the state as the primary locus of power and legitimacy has become an increasingly attractive strategy for many countries, but one that leaves many smaller states squeezed as the geopolitical sands shift. There is currently no sign that norms and institutions exist towards which the world’s major powers might converge. This creates new risks and uncertainties: rising military tensions, economic and commercial disruptions, and destabilizing feedback loops between changing global conditions and countries’ domestic political conditions. International relations now play out in increasingly diverse ways.

Beyond conventional military buildups, these include new cyber sources of hard and soft power, reconfigured trade and investment links, proxy conflicts, changing alliance dynamics, and potential flashpoints related to the global commons. Assessing and mitigating risks across all these theatres of potential conflict will require careful horizon scanning and crisis anticipation by both state and nonstate actors.

This year’s Global Risks Report introduces three new series: Future Shocks, Hindsight and Risk Reassessment. Our aim is to broaden the report’s analytical reach: each of these elements provides a new lens through which to view the increasingly complex world of global risks.

Future Shocks is a warning against complacency and a reminder that risks can crystallize with disorientating speed. In a world of complex and interconnected systems, feedback loops, threshold effects and cascading disruptions can lead to sudden and dramatic breakdowns. We present 10 such potential breakdowns—from democratic collapses to spiralling cyber conflicts—not as predictions, but as food for thought: what are the shocks that could fundamentally upend your world?

In Hindsight we look back at risks we have analysed in previous editions of the Global Risks Report, tracing the evolution of the risks themselves and the global responses to them. Revisiting our past reports in this way allows us to gauge risk-mitigation efforts and highlight lingering risks that might warrant increased attention. This year we focus on antimicrobial resistance, youth unemployment, and “digital wildfires”, which is how we referred in 2013 to phenomena that bear a close resemblance to what is now known as “fake news”.

In Risk Reassessment, selected risk experts share their insights about the implications for decisionmakers in businesses, governments and civil society of developments in our understanding of risk. In this year’s report, Roland Kupers writes about fostering resilience in complex systems, while Michele Wucker calls for organizations to pay more attention to cognitive bias in their risk management processes.

Evidence – Science – Ideology

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Be Skeptical of Those Who Treat Science as an Ideology – Commentary
Scientific knowledge is always provisional. The point is to produce evidence, not doctrine.
Sue Desmond-Hellmann
Wall Street Journal, Jan. 19, 2018 6:10 p.m. ET
[Editor’s text bolding]

Skepticism is the lifeblood of scientific progress. By constantly asking whether there is a different answer, a better approach or an alternative view, scientists drive improvements and innovations that ultimately benefit everyone. It is not “antiscience” to be skeptical—it’s definitively pro-science. At a time when people of all ideological stripes are seeking definitive sources of truth, we should all embrace our inner skeptics and turn to the scientific method for a fresh approach to resolve our differences.

When I started out as an oncologist in the mid-1980s, women with the most aggressive form of breast cancer were subjected to surgical removal of not only their breasts but large amounts of their chests and rib cages. Treatment later evolved toward less-extensive surgery but greater use of chemotherapy, which too often came with debilitating side effects. I still remember what I called “the mother sign”—women being helped into my clinic by their moms because they were so weak from the therapies I gave them.

In the 1990s I left patient care for biotechnology, which held promise in improving cancer treatments. I led product development at Genentech, where we developed drugs such as Herceptin, which targeted cancerous cells and left healthy ones largely intact. By challenging the status quo, we found ways to treat at least some patients without first making them sicker. In a little over a decade, cancer treatment moved from disfiguring surgery to powerful drugs to precise gene therapies. Today, harnessing the immune system to treat cancer shows immense promise for the next advance.

But whereas skepticism and uncertainty have always been the heart and soul of science, confidence and certainty are the coin of the realm in much of today’s public discourse. Unquestioning confidence is deeply troubling for the scientific community because it is not the currency we trade in, and it has led people in America and around the world to question scientific enterprise itself. We should all be troubled when science is treated as if it were an ideology rather than a discipline.

Valuing beliefs over science manifests itself as cynicism at best, denialism at worst. Scientists talk about skepticism to assert that nothing should be accepted or rejected without considerable evidence. Denialism—the refusal to accept established facts—is different and dangerous.

According to Harvard research, between 2000 and 2005 AIDS denialism in South Africa led to an estimated 330,000 deaths because the government rejected offers of free drugs and grants and dragged its heels on establishing a treatment program. And in just eight weeks last year—April 7 to June 2—Minnesota saw more cases of measles, a disease easily prevented with a vaccine, than had occurred in the entire United States in 2016.

The point of science is not to produce doctrine, but to collect and test evidence that points toward conclusions, which in turn inform approaches, treatments and policies based on rigorous research. These conclusions are provisional. Scientific investigation is undertaken to question today’s knowledge, to seek new evidence through research and experimentation.

That is not to say that previous evidence was “false,” merely that it was less complete. Those surgeons who performed radical mastectomies in the 1980s were acting with the best knowledge available at that time. As the understanding improved, so did the methods. Nor is it to say that current knowledge shouldn’t be trusted—there is strong evidence that vaccines save lives, for example, and scant evidence that they cause harm.

When I was a practicing oncologist, one way I built trust with patients was to be open and honest about what I knew for certain and what I didn’t. On my best days, I didn’t just talk; I listened. I answered patients’ questions to the best of my knowledge and did follow-up research on the ones I couldn’t answer. If I witnessed an outcome I didn’t expect, I revisited my assumptions. That’s how I applied the scientific method in the wild.

I follow a similar approach in my current job. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation uses a data-driven, evidence-based decision-making model. When the evidence changes, so does our strategy—as it did with malaria. Once it was clear that controlling the disease world-wide was practically and politically unsustainable, we increased our focus on accelerating elimination in regions where it is feasible now. At the same time, we’re continuing to support efforts to save lives and develop the tools that will eventually allow us to eradicate the disease.

What is undeniable is that the scientific breakthroughs in which we invest, such as new vaccines and hardier crops, help people around the world survive and thrive. How many more people benefit—and how quickly—will depend in part on public confidence in science.

We can rebuild that confidence by uniting around the qualities of the scientific method. As the name suggests, the scientific method is not a belief system, it is a practice. We would all benefit from more practice.
Dr. Desmond-Hellmann is CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Emergencies
 
POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 17 January 2018 [GPEI]
:: Summary of newly-reported viruses this week:
…Afghanistan:  One new case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) reported in Kandahar province. Five new WPV1 positive environmental samples have been reported, three collected from Nangarhar province, one from Hilmand province, and one from Kunar province.
… Pakistan: Pakistan: Three new WPV1 positive environmental samples have been reported, two collected from Balochistan province, and one from Punjab province.
…Democratic Republic of the Congo: Five new cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) have been reported in Tanganyika province.

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Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 30, 16 January 2018
Situation update 16 January 2018
:: No new cases of cVDPV2 were reported this week. The total number of cVDPV2 cases remains 74.
:: The most recent case (by date of onset of paralysis) is 21 September 2017 from Boukamal district, Deir Ez-Zor governorate.
:: The first round of the second phase of the outbreak response started in Deir Ez-Zor city and in Hasakah and Homs governorates on 14 January. The round will commence in other parts of Deir Ez-Zor and in Raqqa in the coming days.

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WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 20 January 2018]
The Syrian Arab Republic
:: Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 30, 16 January 2018
[See Polio above for detail]

Yemen
:: Weekly epidemiology bulletin, 8–14 January 2018
Cumulative figures
– The cumulative total from 27 April 2017 to 14 Jan 2018 is 1,035,676 suspected cholera cases and 2,244 associated deaths,
(CFR 0.22%), 1100 have been confirmed by culture.

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 20 January 2018]
Myanmar 
:: Nearly half a million children being vaccinated against diphtheria in Cox’s Bazar
SEAR/PR/1676
14 January 2018, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh – As part of an intensified response to the current diphtheria outbreak, WHO, UNICEF and health sector partners are working with the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to vaccinate more than 475,000 children in Rohingya refugee camps, temporary settlements and surrounding areas.
“All efforts are being made to stop further spread of diphtheria. The vaccination of children in the Rohingya camps and nearby areas demonstrates the health sector’s commitment to protecting people, particularly children, against deadly diseases,” said Dr Bardan Jung Rana, ai WHO Representative to Bangladesh.
Nearly 150,000 children aged six weeks to seven years received pentavalent vaccine (that protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, haemophilus influenza type b and hepatitis B), and nearly 166,000 children aged 7 to 17 years were given tetanus and diphtheria (Td) vaccine, during a three-week vaccination campaign that ended on 31 December. Two more rounds of vaccination with a diphtheria-containing vaccine, at intervals of one month, are planned to fully protect the children in camps and surrounding areas.
“Children are particularly vulnerable to diphtheria. Volunteers are making door-to-door visits in the Rohingya settlements to ensure all children receive vaccination. The massive influx within a very short time has heavily affected basic services in the settlement areas. They have no choice but to live in a very congested environment, which is impacting their health and quality of life. We are making continued efforts to improve conditions of the camps. At the same time, diphtheria vaccination is vital to reducing the risk of further outbreak,” said the UNICEF Country Representative Mr. Edouard Beigbeder.
To limit the spread of diphtheria to communities living near the Rohingya camps and settlements, nearly 160,000 children in 499 schools of Teknaf and Ukhiya sub-districts are also being vaccinated. This initiative began on 1 January. Vaccination was initiated on a day when children attend school in large numbers to avail themselves of free books provided by the government at the start of the academic year.
WHO, UNICEF and other health partners are working with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to establish fixed locations for immunization in the Rohingya camps to continue to provide life-saving vaccines to children, in line with Bangladesh’s childhood immunization programme.

Democratic Republic of the Congo
15 January 2018
Cholera in Kinshasa – WHO is redeploying experts to control the epidemic
Kinshasa — On a 24-hour working visit to the Democrati Republic of Congo’s capital, heavily affected by the cholera epidemic, Dr Matshidiso MOETI, WHO Regional Director for Africa, told the Minister of Health, Public Health, Dr Oly ILUNGA Monday, of a reinforced emergency support mechanism putting all the experts from the Country Office and those deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (epidemiologists, logisticians, data managers, specialists in communication on risks, social mobilization and community engagement etc.) available to the DPS to strengthen the response against cholera.

::::::
::::::
 
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
:: 18 Jan 2018   Syria cVDPV2 Outbreak Situation Report #30 – 16 January 2018
:: Statement by the UN in Syria on civilians impacted by increase in hostilities [EN/AR]  17 January 2018
 
::::::

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.
ROHINGYA CRISIS
:: ISCG Situation Report: Rohingya Refugee Crisis, Cox’s Bazar | 14 January 2018

Somalia
:: 17 Jan 2018  Somalia: US$1.6 billion urgently needed to save and protect 5.4 million lives from unprecedented drought
 
::::::
::::::
 
Editor’s Note:
We will cluster these recent emergencies as below and continue to monitor the WHO webpages for updates and key developments.
 
Yellow Fever  [to 20 January 2018]
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/yellowfev/en/
16 January 2018
Updates on yellow fever vaccination recommendations for international travelers related to the current situation in Brazil
Information for international travellers
…Considering the increased level of yellow fever virus activity observed across the state of São Paulo, the WHO Secretariat has determined that, in addition to the areas listed in previous updates, the entire state of São Paulo should also be considered at risk for yellow fever transmission.
Consequently, vaccination against yellow fever is recommended for international travellers visiting any area in the state of São Paulo.
The determination of new areas considered to be at risk for the yellow fever transmission is an ongoing process and updates will be provided regularly…
 
 

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 13 January 2018

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 version:The Sentinel_ period ending 13 January 2018

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research
:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Editor’s Note:
As we reach the eighth anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, we note the release of the revised Haiti Humanitarian Response Plan and its scale.

.
Haiti: US$252.2M needed to reach 2.2 million people with life-saving aid in 2018
On 11 January, the Humanitarian Country Team in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and External Cooperation launched the revised Multi-Year Humanitarian Response Plan (2017-2018). In support of the Government response, the plan requires $252 million to provide critical life-saving, protection and livelihoods assistance to 2.2 million Haitians out of an estimated 2.8 million people in need.

One year after the passage of Hurricane Matthew, nearly 1 million people are still in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. The humanitarian situation in Haiti, however, notably evolved in 2017: 1.32 million people were estimated to be living in severe food insecurity compared to the 1.5 million in the previous year, there was a 67% decrease in the total number of suspected cases of cholera in comparison with 2016 and the cumulative number of migrants deported or who spontaneously returned from Dominican Republic since July 2015 increased from 158,800 in December 2016 to 230,300 in October 2017. The combined effects of these recurrent needs prevent the country’s full recovery and continue to weaken its resilience against future shocks and stresses.

In 2018, the humanitarian community in Haiti will primarily focus on food insecurity, cholera epidemic, binational migration situation, IDPs still living in camps, unmet needs of people affected by recent disasters and preparedness for possible natural disasters in 2018. The response strategy for 2018 will be anchored on the initial strategy for 2017- 2018 which was developed based on the results of the analysis of humanitarian needs in the country. The strategy considered the diverse humanitarian needs in different parts of the country, the possible evolution of the needs and potential emergence of new needs…

Migration

.
Making Migration Work for All
Report of the Secretary-General
A/72/643
12 December 2017 :: 20 pages
Summary
…The report focuses on making migration work for all, emphasizing its links to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The report highlights: (a) options for Member States to help migrants fulfil their economic and social potential; (b) steps to promote regular migration; and (c) policies to meet the legitimate security considerations of Member States concerning irregular migration. It also explores the specific challenges arising from large mixed movements of migrants and refugees.

The report offers suggestions for Member States to frame an action-oriented global compact, addressing aspects of migration from the subnational to the global level and a specific strategy for responding to large movements of migrants. The Secretary-General also sets out plans to conduct intensive consultations within the United Nations system to address how the Organization can adapt to provide better support for the global compact and sets out proposals for follow-up to the compact by Member States.

.

Press Release
UN Migration Agency Welcomes UN Secretary General’s Report – Making Migration Work for All
01/12/18
New York – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, welcomed Thursday (11/01) the release of the UN Secretary General’s report, Making Migration Work for All. The Report comes at a crucial time in the process to develop a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, and will serve as an important contribution to global discourse on international migration…

The Report makes note of the fact that most of the world’s 258 million international migrants already move through safe, orderly and regular means, and that they bring significant benefits to their destination and origin countries.

The report notes, for example: migrants spend, on average, some 85 per cent of their earnings in their host countries, thereby not only addressing skills and labour shortages there, but also contributing directly to economic growth through consumption of goods and services locally. Moreover, migrants remit homeward 15 per cent of their earnings – in 2017 some USD 600 billion, per World Bank estimates – to the benefit of their families and communities in sender countries which, for many, is a lifeline.

Nonetheless, many countries today confront significant challenges surrounding migration governance.

With migration an expanding global reality, the Report brings a fresh coherence to the migration narrative. It challenges governments to put in place comprehensive national systems to manage migration, based on the rule of law. It places rightful emphasis on the need to maximize the benefits that migration offers.

IOM particularly commends the Report’s commitment to the notion that migration should be a matter of choice, not necessity, as well as the importance it attaches to protecting the rights of all migrants. IOM shares the UN Secretary General’s concern about migrants in vulnerable situations, including those in large and mixed flows and those affected by the growing effects of environmental degradation and climate change. The emphasis of the Report on addressing irregular migration is also particularly welcome.

“The best way to end the stigma of illegality and abuse around migrants is, in fact, for governments to put in place more legal pathways for migration,” said UN SG Antonio Guterres. “This will remove incentives for individuals to break the rules, while better meeting the needs of markets for foreign labour.”..

At the same time, Making Migration Work for All clearly recognizes that governments retain the authority to determine the conditions of entry and stay of migrants, consistent with international standards, and recognizes countries’ legitimate security concerns as well. The Report stresses that migration is not, per se, a threat and emphasizes the importance of ensuring cooperative approaches to human, state and public security, including on border management and returns.

Governance-Financing :: Multilateral Organizations

.
Who funds which multilateral organizations?
Brookings – Global Views, No.8, December 2017 :: 27 pages
John W. McArthur, Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, the Brookings Institution
Krista Rasmussen, Research Analyst, Global Economy and Development, the Brookings Institution
PDF: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/globalviews_who_funds_which_multilaterals.pdf

CONCLUSION [p.13]
This policy brief draws on official data sources to estimate how countries allocated more than $63 billion in average annual grant funding across 53 major multilateral organizations during the 2014 to 2016 period.

Some headline findings are as follows:
:: Funding sources are concentrated, with nearly half the sample total provided by four funders —the U.S., the U.K., Japan, and Germany—and 95 percent provided by 32 funders.

:: Among the same four largest funders, only the U.K. contributes more than its share of OECD donor country income to the multilateral organizations in the sample.

:: In per capita terms, the four largest funders are Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Monaco. Each provides more than $185 per person per year to multilateral organizations. organizations. Denmark and Switzerland also provide more than $150 per person per year.

:: A majority of the sample’s total resources are targeted to a small number of organizations, with six entities receiving more than half of the overall funding.

:: Four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council give their largest share of funding within the sample to U.N. peacekeeping operations: China, France, Russia, and the U.S. The U.K. gives its largest share to IDA, the World Bank’s concessional financing arm.

:: The U.S., U.K., and Japan played special funding roles across the multilateral system during the sample period. One of these three countries was the largest funder for each of 42 organizations in the sample, including all of the 17 largest organizations. Overall, the U.S. is the top funder for 24 organizations, the U.K. for nine organizations, and Japan for nine organizations.

:: Only a handful of other funders are the lead contributor to other organizations, including France (for 2 organizations), Sweden (2), Germany (1), the EU/EC (1), Switzerland (1), Brazil (1), BMGF (1), Argentina (1), and Panama (1). This suggests that even mid- and smaller-sized economies can choose to play special lead funding roles within specific organizations.

:: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides more than $880 million per year to multilateral organizations and is the second-largest funder to CGIAR, Gavi, and WHO.

:: Estimating each funder’s relative importance to each organization—how big a relative fish it is in each pond—enables the opportunity to compare each country’s “fish factor” across organizations. This in turn offers the opportunity to assess countries’ revealed preferences among multilateral priorities. Fish factors can also be compared to objective benchmarks like share of world population, world income, or donor country income.

Altogether, the quantitative assessment in this brief offers a starting point for evaluating each country’s recent multilateral priorities and the relative importance of those priorities to each multilateral organization. Future research could usefully unpack underlying streams of finance to each entity and investigate how funding flows have changed over time, potentially reflecting shifts in priorities. In the meantime, the analysis presented here can help inform debates about where forthcoming investments in multilateral cooperation are most needed.

The Rockefeller Foundation Announces Inaugural Cohort of Fellows
The Rockefeller Foundation Fellows include senior-level experts across the fields of health, power, innovative finance, governance, economic opportunity, and the life sciences

January 8, 2018, NEW YORK— The Rockefeller Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural class of a new Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship.

The Fellowship award includes support to work for up to two years on an independent project that will ultimately lead to meaningful results to improve people’s lives around the world and that is consistent with the Foundation’s mission, values, and strategic priorities. The inaugural cohort of Fellows will work on a range of projects across the fields of health, power, innovative finance, governance, economic opportunity, and the life sciences. In addition to advancing their independent projects, Fellows will share their expertise and perspective with the Foundation and its network of grantees, partners, and peer institutions working collectively to address the world’s most pressing challenges. As Fellows, they will also connect with one another through a program of activities designed to enable sharing of ideas and thoughtful dialogue and debate.

“With their notable accomplishments and commitment to improving the lives of poor and vulnerable around the world, The Rockefeller Foundation is proud to support this cohort of Rockefeller Foundation Fellows,” said Rajiv Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation. “We are incredibly inspired by this stellar group of Fellows, and look forward to the tremendous impact we will be able to have together as we collectively strive to promote the well-being of humanity in the 21st century.”

By supporting senior level experts and seasoned practitioners advancing work aligned with the Foundation’s overarching mission and goals, this Fellowship builds on the Foundation’s legacy of investing in people and supporting big, bold ideas. Since 1914, the Rockefeller Foundation has supported more than 14,000 individuals through over 40 different fellowships across the agricultural, medical, natural, and social sciences, as well as the arts, education, and humanities. These fellowships have supported training for agronomists in Mexico, historians in India, Latin American filmmakers, and nurses from around the world.

The Rockefeller Foundation Fellows were selected via a nomination and invitation to apply process based on their significant accomplishments within their field, proven expertise, and compelling individual work. The Foundation plans to select the next cohort of Fellows later in 2018.

The inaugural cohort of Rockefeller Foundation Fellows includes:
:: Catherine Bertini is an accomplished leader in international organization reform, and has served as United Nations Under Secretary-General for Management, UN Security Coordinator, and as Executive Director of the UN World Food Program (WFP), the world’s largest international humanitarian agency…
:: Karan J. Capoor has over 25 years of global experience at the interface of public policy and private sector transactions in energy, infrastructure and climate change. Most recently the World Bank’s energy program head for the Clean Technology Fund and the Green Climate Fund, he previously led innovative operations in Asia, Africa and Latin America and managed the design and launch for the Bank’s multi-billion dollar carbon finance business…
:: Agnes Dasewicz has over 20 years of experience in private equity and impact investment in emerging markets and most recently, she served as the Director of the Office of Private Capital and Microenterprise at the U.S. Agency of International Development where she led the Agency to design and implement several key initiatives at the nexus of commercial investment and development finance….
:: Trooper Sanders has worked across business, government, and philanthropy to advance solutions to critical social challenges in the United States and internationally. He served as a White House policy advisor during two administrations and worked on issues ranging from supporting military families…
:: Peter M. Small, MD is the Founding Director of the Global Health Institute at Stony Brook University which focuses on the use of innovation to reduce poverty, ecological devastation and disease in Madagascar and other poor countries.
:: Wendy Taylor is the former Director of the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact at the U.S. Agency for International Development, a center of excellence applying innovative, business-minded approaches to accelerate the development, introduction and scale-up of priority global health innovations…
:: Melanie Walker, MD is an endovascular neurosurgical Fellow at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and adviser to Bill Gates at bgC3 in Seattle on neurotechnology and brain science. Her career has focused on innovation at the intersection of life sciences, government and philanthropy…

Education – Sexuality

International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education – An evidence-informed approach
UNESCO, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, WHO
2018 : 139 pages
PDF: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002607/260770e.pdf

[Excerpt, p.12-13]
The purpose of the International technical guidance on sexuality education and its intended audiences
The International technical guidance on sexuality education (the Guidance) was developed to assist education, health and other relevant authorities in the development and implementation of school-based and out-of-school comprehensive sexuality education programmes and materials. It is immediately relevant for government education ministers and their professional staff, including curriculum developers, school principals and teachers. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), youth workers and young people can also use the document as an advocacy or accountability tool, for example by sharing it with decision-makers as a guide to best practices and/or for its integration within broader agendas, such as the SDGs. The Guidance is also useful for anyone involved in the design, delivery and evaluation of sexuality education programmes both in and out of school, including stakeholders working on quality education, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), adolescent health and/or gender equality, among other issues.

The Guidance emphasizes the need for programmes that are informed by evidence, adapted to the local context, and logically designed to measure and address factors such as beliefs, values, attitudes and skills which, in turn, may affect health and well-being in relation to sexuality.

The quality and impact of school-based CSE [Comprehensive Sexuality Education] is dependent not only on the teaching process – including the capacity of teachers, the pedagogical approaches employed and the teaching and learning materials used – but also on the whole school environment. This is manifested through school rules and in-school practices, among other aspects. CSE is an essential component of a broader quality education and plays a critical role in determining the health and well-being
of all learners.

The Guidance is intended to:
:: provide a clear understanding of CSE and clarify the desired positive outcomes of CSE;
:: promote an understanding of the need for CSE programmes by raising awareness of relevant sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues and concerns that impact children and young people;
:: share evidence and research-based guidance to assist policy-makers, educators and curriculum developers;
:: increase teachers’ and educators’ preparedness and enhance institutional capacity to provide high-quality CSE;
:: provide guidance to education authorities on how to build support for CSE at the community and school levels;
:: provide guidance on how to develop relevant, evidence-informed, age- and developmentally-appropriate CSE curricula, teaching and learning materials and programmes that are culturally responsive;
:: demonstrate how CSE can increase awareness about issues that may be considered sensitive in some cultural contexts, such as menstruation and gender equality. CSE can also raise awareness of harmful practices such as child early and forced marriage (CEFM) and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

In addition to being informed by the latest evidence, the Guidance is firmly grounded in numerous international human rights conventions that stress the right of every individual to education and to the highest attainable standard of health and well-being. These human rights conventions include the Universal Declaration on Human Rights; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities…

.

Press Release
UN urges Comprehensive Approach to Sexuality Education
10 January 2018
Close to 10 years after its first edition, a fully updated International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education published today by UNESCO advocates quality comprehensive sexuality education to promote health and well-being, respect for human rights and gender equality, and empowers children and young people to lead healthy, safe and productive lives.
“Based on the latest scientific evidence, the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education reaffirms the position of sexuality education within a framework of human rights and gender equality,” says UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. “It promotes structured learning about sexuality and relationships in a manner that is positive and centred on the best interest of the young person. By outlining the essential components of effective sexuality education programmes, the Guidance enables national authorities to design comprehensive curricula that will have a positive impact on young people’s health and well-being.”…

Health

Here’s why global health suffers in a fractured world
Seth Berkley CEO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
10 Jan 2018 – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
The world is today more fractured than at any time since the Cold War, with a new fortress narrative now emerging. But is it really possible for countries to reap the benefits of globalization and shun the responsibilities that come with a globalized economy, while avoiding the consequences of doing so?

Globalism may have fallen out of favour with some, but the forces driving it are not likely to be so easily swayed. Formidable trends will continue to drive both globalization and globalism, and in doing so will bring new challenges that will threaten us all by, among other things, making it harder to prevent the spread of deadly infectious disease. So, in the face of such growing threats to global health security, it should become increasingly clear that putting national interests first doesn’t always mean focusing all your attention at home.

The fact is that the same aspects of the modern world that have helped to make global trade and economic growth possible have also helped promote some of the biggest challenges we are likely to face in the 21st century. Climate change, population growth, human migration and urbanization are just some examples. All have an impact on global health security.
Just as it is possible to have dinner in Nairobi, breakfast in London and lunch in New York, you can now also order goods from halfway around the world and receive them within a timeframe shorter than the incubation period of many infectious diseases.

With more than a billion people travelling outside their country or region every year, it has never been easier for viruses to move around the world. We saw this recently, first with the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which spread to 10 countries infecting nearly 29,000 people globally, killing 11,000 of them; and then with Zika, which affected more than 80 countries and territories, resulting in more than 220,000 confirmed cases.

If we want to keep the bugs at bay, border security and immigration control will only get us so far. Instead we need to look at how we can prevent outbreaks in the first place. That means embracing globalism by investing in global health to help to strengthen national health systems, disease surveillance and routine immunization in poor countries. By recognizing that infectious disease is not some far away exotic issue, but a global problem, and by sharing the responsibility for its prevention, diagnosis and control, the whole world will be a lot safer.

The problem is, thanks to the combined effects of population growth, climate change, migration and conflict, global health security is likely to become more challenging in the years to come. Land degradation, rising sea levels, famine and conflict will continue to drive people from their homes and towards cities, with megacities like Mexico City and Lagos becoming increasingly common in some of the poorest parts of the world. Without action, the effects of this on global health security could be profound, because as urban density increases, so too can the risk of urban epidemics.

More people living in less space can put greater strain on already limited sanitation resources, and this can create a fertile breeding ground for waterborne infectious disease and the insects spreading them. At the same time, the sheer scale of cities, and the number of vulnerable people living in them, has the potential to overstretch vaccine and antimicrobial supplies, limiting our ability to prevent or respond to outbreaks.

This is not just a hypothetical scenario. In 2016, we saw precisely this play out with the world’s largest yellow fever outbreak in three decades in Angola’s capital Luanda, which spread across Angola and to two other African countries, including threatening Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). During this outbreak, vaccine shortages made the situation so desperate that the World Health Organization and UNICEF had to resort to recommending fractional dosing in Kinshasa as part of its response, administering one-fifth of a normal dose to people.

We got lucky, and not just in averting major urban epidemics in two overcrowded capital cities, but also in preventing the spread of yellow fever to Asia. No one really knows why yellow fever has never taken hold in Asia, but with 1.8 billion unvaccinated people living in a region where the mosquito responsible for transmitting the disease – Aedes aegypti – is endemic, and with no cure for the disease, the potential of it doing so is a huge concern (particularly, when two other Aedes transmitted infections – dengue and chikungunya – are causing major epidemics).

With a large Chinese workforce in Angola, 11 yellow fever cases did manage to reach China, but were thankfully contained and the virus spread no further. And despite facing further vaccine shortages when another large outbreak occurred just a few months later in Brazil, the global health community rallied and was able to prevent this too from turning into an urban epidemic. But these were close calls.

As the global population continues to grow and become ever more urban, it is important that we are prepared for what it will bring. While it will almost certainly help boost globalization by opening up new markets, without a continued global effort to prevent outbreaks wherever they occur, through routine immunization and strengthened health systems, then such close calls could become full blown pandemics threatening us all with catastrophic human and economic consequences.

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of 10 January 2018 [GPEI]
:: New on www.polioeradication.org: We join Dr Urs Herzog, polio eradicator, National PolioPlus Advocacy Advisor for Rotary Switzerland and polio survivor himself, as he explains the financial costs of the programme and why it is critical that we eradicate every last trace of the virus.

:: Summary of newly-reported viruses this week:
…Afghanistan:  Three new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) positive environmental samples have been reported, one collected from Kandahar, one from Hilmand, and one from Nangarhar provinces.
… Pakistan: Four new WPV1 positive environmental samples have been reported, three collected from Sindh province, and one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
…Democratic Republic of the Congo: Advance notifications have been received of five cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2). These will be confirmed in next week’s data reporting.

::::::
 
Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 29, 9 January 2018
Situation update 9 January 2018
:: No new cases of cVDPV2 were reported this week. The total number of cVDPV2 cases remains 74.
:: The most recent case (by date of onset of paralysis) is 21 September 2017 from Boukamal district, Deir Ez-Zor governorate.
:: Preparations continue at national and governorate levels for the upcoming first round of the second phase of the outbreak response. mOPV2 and IPV will be used in two immunization rounds through house-to-house and fixed centre vaccination.
:: mOPV2 stocks have arrived in Beirut, Lebanon, for onward transportation to Damascus. The shipment process for IPV is underway.
 

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 13 January 2018]
The Syrian Arab Republic
:: Syria cVDPV2 outbreak situation report 29, 9 January 2018
[See Polio above for detail]

Yemen
:: Weekly epidemiology bulletin, 25–31 December 2017
Cumulative figures
-The cumulative total from 27 April 2017 to 31 December 2017 is 1,019,044 suspected cholera cases and 2,237 associated deaths,
(CFR 0.22%), 1094 have been confirmed by culture.
– 59.3 % of death were severe cases at admission
– The total proportion of severe cases among the suspected cases is 16.9%
– The national attack rate is 370 per 10,000. The five governorates with the highest cumulative attack rates per 10,000 remain  Amran (870), Al Mahwit (824), Al Dhale’e (644), Hajjah (498) and Abyan (494).
– Children under 5 years old represent 28.6% of total suspected cases.
– In total, 25,889 rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) have been performed which represents 24.3% coverage.
– 2,651 cultures have been performed which represents 25.4% coverage.
– The last positive culture was on 19 Dec 2017 in Al-Sabeen distric in Amanat Al-Asimah
– 70 districts did not report any suspected case the last three consecutive 3 weeks
Governorate and District level
– At governorate level, the trend from W50-W52 decrease or was stable in all governorates except (Sana’a governorate (+25%),
Hajjah governorate (+16%), Sada’a (+17%) .
Trends
– The weekly number of cases is decreasing for the 16 consecutive weeks.
– The weekly proportion of severe cases has significantly decreased representing now 10% of the admitted cases.
Week 52
– 9,169 suspected cases and 4 associated deaths were reported
– 11 % are severe cases
– 740 RDTs were performed, 136 were positive
– 0 Positive culture

::::::
 
WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 13 January 2018]
Myanmar 
:: Weekly Situation Report # 9
Date of issue: 6 January 2018; Period covered: 31 December – 6 January
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
…As of 6 January 2018, a total of 3 523 cases clinically suspected with diphtheria and 58 laboratory confirmed cases (out of 185 cases tested) have been reported. 104 clinically suspected cases were admitted at diphtheria treatment facilities on 6 January 2018. A total of 30 deaths have been recorded so far. The last reported death was on 2 January.
…Preparations are underway for the second round of Penta/Td vaccination for Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMN), which will occur in January.
…A vaccination campaign targeting children in the host community was held on 02 January during free book distribution day across 104 schools in Ukhia. A total of 29 377 children were vaccinated – 6 514 children 6 weeks to under 7 were vaccinated with pentavalent vaccine and 22 823 children 7 to 15 years were vaccinated with Td.
…The upgraded EWARS system was launched on 1 January. Training is ongoing for DGHS representatives, agency focal

::::::
::::::
 
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
:: Syria: UN Humanitarian Chief sees first hand “colossal toll that the brutal and sustained hostilities have taken”  11 January, 2018
:: Health Cluster Weekly Situation Report: Whole of Syria, Week 2, 5-11 January 2018
:: Turkey | Syria: Recent Developments in Northwestern Syria (as of 10 January 2018)

Yemen 
:: Statement by the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick,on the vital importance of keeping Yemen’s entry points open, 11 January 2018 [EN/AR]
 
::::::

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.
ROHINGYA CRISIS
:: WASH Sector Cox’s Bazar Situation Report, 13 January 2018

Ethiopia   
:: 11 Jan 2018 – Ethiopia Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 44 | 25 Dec. 2017 – 7 Jan. 2018

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 6 January 2018

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 version:The Sentinel_ period ending 6 January 2018

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research
:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 16 December 2017

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 version:The Sentinel_ period ending 16 December 2017

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research
:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles and abstracts from 100+ peer-reviewed journals

Editor’s Note:
Universal Health Coverage [UHC] has become the nexus for much global health strategy and  governance focus in the larger context of Sustainable Development Goals/Agenda 2030 context. We present the full text of a joint statement underscoring UHC’s integrating role and a supporting press release below.

Tokyo Declaration on Universal Health Coverage: All Together to Accelerate Progress towards UHC
Statement December 14, 2017 – World Bank, WHO, UNICEF, JICA, UHC2030
Universal Health Coverage Forum 2017
[full text; editor’s text bolding]
 
We, the Co-Organizers of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Forum, reaffirm our commitment to accelerating progress towards UHC, and to achieving health for all people, whoever they are, wherever they live, by 2030.

We recognise the integrated and indivisible nature of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

We reiterate the importance of target 3.8 of the SDGs, which seeks to provide all people with access to high-quality, integrated, “people-centred” health services. This must include promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services, as well as safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines. We want to ensure that people do not suffer financial hardship when accessing services. We emphasize the importance of protecting all people from health risks such as outbreaks, and responding rapidly to outbreaks and crises.

We acknowledge that health is a human right and that UHC is essential to health for all and to human security. We adhere to the principle of Leaving No One Behind, which requires special effort to design and deliver health services informed by the voices and needs of people. This prioritizes the most vulnerable members of the world’s population — children and women — those affected by emergencies, refugees and migrants, and marginalized, stigmatized and minority populations, so often living in extremely difficult circumstances.

We affirm that UHC is both technically and financially feasible. UHC produces high returns across the life course and drives employment and inclusive economic growth. UHC is one of the cornerstones of the Sustainable Development Agenda and contributes to progress towards all SDGs. Without UHC, billions of people are at risk of losing the opportunity to live full and productive lives, and hundreds of millions risk impoverishment in their pursuit of health care. Millions of people live in countries and states considered to be fragile. Attaining UHC in these settings requires strong intersectoral collaboration.

We reaffirm and build on the G7 Ise-Shima Vision for Global Health, the TICAD VI Nairobi Declaration, which acknowledges the “UHC in Africa: A Framework for Action.” We also build on the G20 Berlin Declaration, which acknowledges the UHC2030 “Healthy systems for universal health coverage – a joint vision for healthy lives,” as well as other regional and international declarations. All of these stress the need to build and strengthen resilient and sustainable health systems and prepare for public health emergencies in an integrated way. In this context, we note the progress that has been made to reinforce preparedness and responses to public health emergencies, including formalization of coordination mechanisms among the World Health Organization (WHO) and other relevant United Nations (UN) partners, and funding mechanisms for emergencies like the WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE) and the World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF).

We welcome the release of the 2017 UHC Global Monitoring Report. According to this report, much remains to be done to achieve UHC:  
   :: At least half of the world’s population still does not have access to quality essential services to protect and promote health. 
   :: 800 million people are spending at least 10 percent of their household budget on out-of-pocket health care expenses, and nearly 100 million people are being pushed into extreme poverty each year due to health care costs.

Concerned that progress towards UHC is too slow, despite the efforts made in each country, we call for greater commitment to accelerate progress towards UHC.

Strengthening global momentum towards UHC
:: By 2023, the midpoint towards 2030, the world needs to extend essential health coverage to 1 billion additional people and halve to 50 million the number of people being pushed into extreme poverty by health expenses.

:: We commit to monitoring progress towards UHC as part of the UN SDG review process by issuing global monitoring reports regularly, and reviewing key findings at the subsequent UHC Forum. We welcome the use of a uniform measurement methodology for UHC indicators in the 2017 Global Monitoring Report. We also emphasize the importance of strengthening the breadth and depth of data at the national and subnational levels, including disaggregated data, to inform evidence-based policymaking and to assess progress, as well as strengthening the capacity of local stakeholders to analyse and use data.

:: In response to the recommendations of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, and as articulated in the Dublin Declaration on Human Resources for Health, we call upon all relevant stakeholders to expand and transform investments in the health and social workforce for UHC, emphasizing the empowerment of women and youth employment.

:: To maintain a high level of political momentum on UHC, we welcome the 40th anniversary conference in 2018 of the Alma Ata Declaration, from the International Conference on Primary Health Care. We also welcome the decision to designate December 12 of each year as International UHC Day and support the UN high-level meeting on UHC in 2019. Furthermore, we will support stronger global leadership at high level of the UN system to promote UHC.

Accelerating country-led process towards UHC
:: We commit to jointly mobilizing political leadership around the world so that countries develop their own roadmaps towards UHC, with clearly indicated targets, indicators and specific plans. We support the increased alignment of efforts among all development partners through country-led, multi-stakeholder coordination platforms in line with the UHC2030 Global Compact principles. We also promote country-level engagement with diverse stakeholders from non-governmental and private sector partners to enhance shared ownership and accountability. We welcome the contribution of international initiatives such as the Tokyo Joint UHC Initiative, the UHC Partnership, Providing for Health Partnership, and the Global Financing Facility (GFF), which aim to strengthen country systems and platforms for UHC and preparedness in a collaborative manner.

   :: In pursuing UHC, we commit to targeted investments to prevent, detect and respond to disease outbreaks and other emergencies including surveillance systems in order to safeguard health security and international collaboration under the International Health Regulations (2005). In doing so, we will promote a focus on fragile and conflict-affected settings to ensure UHC financing in such settings. We also commit to investing in building a sound foundation for healthy societies with equitable access to social services such as water, sanitation, nutrition, housing, and education, and mainstreaming gender throughout policies and programmes.

: On financing for UHC, we support a strong dialogue between the Ministries of Health and Finance to mobilize and manage domestic resources to increase public funding and reduce out-of-pocket payments. It is also critical for countries to mobilise citizen and community platforms, strengthening their budgetary processes, tracking expenditures to achieve value and equity of health spending, and enhancing the efficiency of health expenditures.

: Effective and innovative financing tools offered by development partners, such as the GFF and World Bank’s IDA, also complement domestic resources. In this regard, we welcome IDA18’s strong policy commitment to the global health agenda, which was supported by Japan and other donors, and look forward to further mobilization of IDA funds to promote UHC. We also call for expanded financing and increased alignment to support UHC by all development partners, particularly multilateral development banks and Global Health Initiatives such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and foundations such as Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In order to further promote financing for UHC, we will explore holding a high-level dialogue with Health and Finance Ministries by 2019.

Innovation for UHC
:: We recognise that realising our ambition requires going beyond “business as usual,” and commit to developing and supporting strategies, policies and systems at the global and country level to harness and sustain the transformative potential of innovation. This commitment recognises the need for countries to articulate their local priorities for UHC and share best practices.

:: We also commit to improving access to medicines and vaccines through collaborative work and research and development, including during health emergencies building on platforms such as the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI) and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). 

:: Accelerating progress towards UHC requires systematic learning from country experience through platforms such as UHC2030, increased focus on policy coherence, addressing implementation bottlenecks, and harnessing the potential of system innovations and effective and affordable technology in the health sector. We commit to stimulate learning on innovation for UHC by accelerating the generation and sharing of critical knowledge by building on and enhancing coordination of existing and future networks.

We look forward to future convenings and sharing the progress made towards UHC with the Global Community, in the context of the World Health Assembly, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the UN General Assembly, upcoming high-level UHC meetings such as the 2018 40th Anniversary of Alma Ata, and at the next UHC Forum. We extend our deep appreciation to the Government of Japan for its commitment to supporting the continuation of the UHC Fora in the future.