Devex: Opinion: Richard Branson on why philanthropists should club together Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group and co-founder of the Audacious Project “To bring about radical change, sometimes you have to be audacious. … Yet, too often, the really big ideas just don’t get the backing they need and fail…

USAID: Statement by USAID Administrator Mark Green on the Mid-Term Review of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance In a statement congratulating Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance on progress highlighted in its Mid-Term Review, USAID Administrator Mark Green says, “Gavi contributes directly to USAID’s goals to prevent child and maternal deaths, protect communities…

Associated Press: Nobel peace winners demand action against sex abuse (Keyton, 12/9). Associated Press: Slovak hospitals hold new Roma mothers against their will (Cheng, 12/10). CNN: How low tech is making a big impact on maternal deaths in Nigeria (Adeoye, 12/7). The Guardian: ‘No world to leave our children’: progress…

Homeland Preparedness News: Canada to donate additional CA$10 mil to CEPI for anti-epidemic efforts “Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau affirmed another 10 million Canadian dollars for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) [last] week, in an effort to bolster the development of vaccines. The announcement was made following the…

Devex: WHO needs $14B — here’s how it plans to raise it “When the World Health Organization’s executive board meets next month, one of the top items on the agenda is expected to be the agency’s proposed budget for the next two years. … In interviews, [WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom…

Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network: Setting the Gold Standard for Transparency: The Opportunity for the New U.S. Development Finance Agency Sally Paxton, U.S. representative for Publish What You Fund, and George Ingram, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-chair at MFAN, discuss the Better Utilization of Investments Leading to Development…

The Guardian: ‘We need more food, not less’: U.S. cuts leave Palestinian refugees in crisis “…Until last year, the U.S. donated roughly one-third of [the U.N. Relief and Works Agency’s (UNRWA)] $1.1bn (£861m) budget — easily the biggest contribution — to cover schooling, health care, and food aid for 5.3…

PATH’s “DefeatDD Blog”: Leveraging the Global Finance Facility for Improved Healthcare Coverage in Kenya Pauline Irungu, advocacy manager at PATH’s Kenya office, discusses the role of the Global Financing Facility (GFF) in Kenya’s health sector, writing, “The GFF directly contributes to universal health care coverage, ensuring that all of our…

Science: Report that NIH will cancel fetal tissue research contract fuels controversy “The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, D.C., is vigorously contesting a report, published by the Washington Post, that it has decided to cancel a $2-million-a-year contract that funds work using human fetal tissue…

Inter Press Service: Will Member States Help Offset U.S. Funding Cuts to U.N.? “The speculation that the Trump administration plans to reduce its mandatory assessed financial contributions to the U.N.’s regular budget was implicitly confirmed when the U.S. president told delegates last September that Washington ‘is working to shift more…