After floods in northwest Pakistan have “already killed up to 1,200 people” and forced 2 million from their homes, authorities are now concerned about disease spread, the Associated Press reports. “To avert the looming threat of spread of waterborne diseases, especially cholera, we have dispatched dozens of mobile medical teams in the affected districts,” said medical official Sohail Altaf. Altaf said no concrete cases of cholera have been reported in the country but “fear of an outbreak is high,” and patients with “stomach problems from dirty water” are being seen in medical camps (Brummitt, 8/2).

USAID Director Rajiv Shah “says shelter and rubble removal are immediate priorities in the reconstruction efforts in earthquake-devastated Haiti,” VOA News reports. Shah briefed the House Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere Thursday, and also “said between 300,000 and 400,000 units of shelter are needed. He said aid workers are trying to provide about 135,000 transitional structures right now.”

Steps The U.S. Can Take To Improve Its Commitment To Development A Center for Global Development memo offers suggestions for the U.S. to improve its commitment to policies that benefit poor countries after it ranked 17th out of 22 wealthy in the 2009 Commitment to Development Index. Among a set of 20 recommendations,…

The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday declared access to safe, clean drinking water and sanitation to be a “‘human right’ in a resolution that more than 40 countries including the United States didn’t support,” the Associated Press reports (Lederer, 7/28).

African leaders participating in the 15th African Union (AU) Summit, which concluded on Tuesday, agreed to expand a campaign aimed at curbing maternal mortality on the continent and adopted other “key actions” in an effort to reduce infant and maternal mortality, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.

Heads of state from the African Union (AU) started a three-day meeting in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday as part of the 15th AU Summit, People’s Daily Online reports.

African countries should focus on preventing diarrhea – the biggest killer of children in Africa – in order to achieve Millennium Development Goal targets, Yunia Musaazi, WaterAid’s East Africa policy advisor, told delegates at the 15th African Union (AU) Summit, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.

Somalia Humanitarian Aid Underfunded; Donors Discouraged Due To Violence “U.N. humanitarian activities in Somalia are severely underfunded, hurting Somalis who are outside areas controlled by Islamist rebels, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports. The news service writes that humanitarian coordinator Mark Bowden “told reporters health, water and…

AIDS Vaccine, Cure Important Long-Term Solutions A Globe and Mail editorial discusses the importance of “the quest for an AIDS vaccine and the search for a cure,” stating that “it is simply not possible to ‘treat’ our way out of this disease.” The authors write that “for every person who receives…

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday announced several new development- and health-related aid projects for Pakistan worth more than $500 million, Reuters reports (Quinn, 7/19).