Haitian President Rene Preval is expected to meet with President Barack Obama Wednesday in the U.S. to ask for “billions of dollars to rebuild” Haiti, Agence France-Presse reports. The White House said that Obama will emphasize that the U.S. is a “friend and partner” to Haiti and discuss ways the international community could aid Haiti (Burleigh, 3/7).

During a sanitation conference being held in Kampala, Uganda, this week, “experts have urged regional countries to prioritize programs aimed at increasing access to safe water and sanitation” to move them closer to reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target in 2015, New Times/allAfrica.com reports. “According to Water Aid, an international NGO, one billion people still lack access to safe drinking water while 2.4 billion lack adequate sanitation,” the news service writes.

WHO Bulletin Examines Communicable Diseases In Southeast Asia The WHO’s March Bulletin is a special themed issue focusing on communicable diseases in Southeast Asia. The publication addresses tuberculosis, cholera, neglected tropical diseases and family planning in the region (March 2010). Ahead Of International Women’s Day, Lancet Editorial Calls For Increased Investment…

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Wednesday that the country has enough food and fuel to meet citizens’ needs, Dow Jones Newswires reports. She said the government has adequate resources to enable business recovery and to help rebuild houses, and she wants the private sector to play a major role in the rebuilding effort. “Soon it will be the time to get back on our feet and entrepreneurs will be up to the challenge,” she said, according to the news service.

U.S. Ambassador To U.N. In Geneva Assumes Position, Ending 13 Month Vacancy Betty King reported to her new position as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. “Washington’s Geneva mission had been without an ambassador since Warren W. Tichenor left his post on Jan.…

Bacterial Protein Kills Intestinal Roundworms In Mice, Could Lead To Human Treatment Researchers have discovered that a “bacterial protein used in a common pesticide kills intestinal parasitic roundworms in mice,” which may pave a way for treatment in humans, Nature News reports (Fang, 3/2). “These parasites, which include hookworms and whipworms, infect about…

During a phone call on Monday, Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, asked U.N. officials to provide more tents, latrines and hurricane-proof shelter to improve housing and sanitation for Haitian earthquake survivors living in temporary camps, the Associated Press writes. According to Clinton, the needs of many people who survived the earthquake are not being met.
Clinton “also called for strengthening job and agricultural programs. The U.N. says 520,000 people have received emergency shelter but even more still need help,” the AP reports (3/2).

Kenneth Merten, the U.S. ambassador to Haiti, said on Thursday that American troops would stay in the country to aid in its recovery, Agence France-Presse reports. “There are about 6,500 soldiers in Haiti at the moment. There were some 20,000 for the emergency effort launched in the wake of January 12,” Merten said. “What is planned for the moment is more and more staff from USAID on the ground and fewer and fewer troops. Gradually, they’ll leave. In my opinion, we will need some American troops to stay here for the foreseeable future” (2/25).

Haitian and U.N. officials on Tuesday said they planned this week to begin “decompressing” the capital of Port-au-Prince by removing rubble to make space for people to return to their homes or temporarily resettle, Reuters reports. “The ‘Debris Management Plan’ drawn up by experts from the United Nations, the United States and other countries with Haitian government officials marks the next big push by the international relief operation following major distributions of food, water and shelter materials to earthquake victims,” according to the news service.

A Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, written by two Senate staffers, who just returned from Haiti where they assessed relief efforts, draws attention to “immediate shelter and sanitation concerns” and voices “concern about the coordination of Washington’s U.S. government response to Haiti,” Politico’s Laura Rozen writes on her blog. A link to the text of the report appears on Politico’s Web site.