Associated Press: Officials say Pakistan on track to eradicate polio in 2019
“Pakistani officials say the country is on track to eradicate polio in 2019 despite Taliban attacks and superstition that has spurred many parents in the region bordering Afghanistan to refuse to vaccinate their children against the crippling disease…” (1/9).

Xinhua News: Polio likely to be eliminated from Pakistan by end 2019: WHO official
“Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that polio is likely to be eliminated from Pakistan by the end of 2019, according to an official statement on Tuesday. Ghebreyesus, who led a delegation, met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi here and assured the organization’s support to the health care system of the country…” (1/9).

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U.N. News: DR Congo: Ebola response resumes despite ‘risky environment’
“Despite a precarious security environment and continuing pockets of mistrust on the part of affected populations, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Tuesday that all Ebola-affected areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu Province are now accessible to health workers…” (1/8).

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Devex: DFID needs to keep pushing on AIDS, says HIV-positive MP
“The United Kingdom’s aid department must put more resources into fighting HIV/AIDS or risk seeing global progress backslide, according to politician Lloyd Russell-Moyle, who stood up in the House of Commons and revealed he was HIV-positive late last year. The Labour member of parliament, who sits on the International Development Committee — the parliamentary group that scrutinizes aid spending — said that while his decision to go public about his status was prompted by concerns about HIV treatment in the U.K., he is also worried that tackling the virus overseas is no longer a priority for the country’s aid bosses…” (Edwards, 1/9).

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Thomson Reuters Foundation: Human trafficking worsens in conflict zones as militants deploy slaves — U.N.
“Human trafficking is becoming more ‘horrific’ in conflict zones, where armed groups keep women as sex slaves and use child soldiers to spread fear, the United Nations said on Monday, warning of widespread impunity. From girls forced to wed to boys made to cook and clean, militants are using trafficking as a tool to boost their control in areas where the rule of law is weak, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report…” (Guilbert, 1/7).

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Bloomberg: GIP Hires Kim as World Bank President Shifts to Private Role
“Jim Yong Kim, who abruptly resigned as president of the World Bank on Monday, is joining investment firm Global Infrastructure Partners next month. GIP, which focuses on projects in the energy, transport, water, and waste industries, invests in developed and select emerging countries, said Kim will become vice chairman and a partner on Feb. 1…” (Tan/Mayeda, 1/8).

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CNBC: Deal-making in the global health-care sector is set to rebound in 2019, law firm says (Olsen, 1/8).

Devex: Responding to the Sunda Strait tsunami (Cornish, 1/9).

STAT: New Ebola-like virus is discovered in China (Branswell, 1/8).

Thomson Reuters Foundation: Scientists say ‘mosquito birth control’ drug could be ready in five years (Batha, 1/9).

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The Hill: Sen. Young: Progress in Yemen requires American leadership
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

“…[T]he best way to oppose Iran in Yemen and stop ballistic missile attacks on our partners is to bring all parties to the negotiating table, end the civil war, and address the humanitarian crisis. Famine and the indiscriminate targeting of civilians will only push more Yemenis toward Iran and its proxies. … For too long, Saudi Arabia demonstrated that it would not lift humanitarian impediments or come to the negotiating table in good faith absent strong and sustained U.S. diplomatic pressure. … U.S. diplomatic pressure is both necessary and effective. … The American people are right to expect their government to speak up when our partners use food as a weapon of war. … If Congress and the administration will utilize all available leverage, we can effectively encourage Riyadh to eliminate humanitarian obstacles, negotiate in good faith, and support a sustainable political solution. … Our national security interests and our humanitarian principles demand nothing less” (1/8).

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Devex: Opinion: Achieving UHC in Africa requires focus and collaboration from the private sector
Carla Kriwet, executive vice president and CEO of the Connected Care businesses at Philips and member of the Royal Philips Executive Committee, and Githinji Gitahi, group chief executive officer at Amref Health Africa and co-chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee

“…Improving access to care in underserved communities in Africa will require stronger partnerships that leverage the unique skills and resources of governments, civil society, and the private sector alike. … There are five areas where the private sector can add unique value to help achieve UHC: 1. Understanding patients … 2. Implementing innovations at scale … 3. Designing the right business models … 4. Building government capacity … 5. Innovating to meet local needs … Moving the needle on UHC will require that public and private players share innovative ideas and form durable partnerships. … Forum’s such as next year’s Africa Health Agenda International Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, and the upcoming U.N. high-level meeting on UHC, will galvanize health leaders, innovators, and the private sector to redouble our collective efforts to realize universal health coverage by 2030 — with the aim of increasing quality of life for each and every person and building human capital for the prosperity of all” (1/9).

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IRIN: Humanitarianism is in crisis. Digital innovation won’t fix it
Mark Duffield, professor emeritus at the Global Insecurities Centre at the University of Bristol

“…[D]onor governments have seen their influence decline as their political pursuit of austerity and domestic retrenchment increases and multilateralism loses its cohesion. Countering this negative prospect, however, stands a more optimistic — even celebratory — techno-populism. Its proponents speak not so much of a humanitarian crisis but of the need for humanitarian innovation. They present first-order political problems that demand democratic debate and urgent action as heuristic challenges to be sidestepped and rendered profitable through smart technology, agile design, and private acumen. For the techno-populists, the enemy is not authoritarianism but institutional inertia and hidebound convention. Technology does many things for humanitarian response and prevention. Addressing the problems at the heart of our industry’s crisis, however, is not one of them…. If technology is to play a useful humanitarian role we have to make a choice. The easy road is to do nothing and submit to ever deepening automation, remote management, and the robotization of behavior. The more difficult task — and one that will define progressive politics for years to come — is to bring the oligarchic electronic atmosphere under democratic control” (1/7).

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Oxfam’s “From Poverty to Power”: Who Are the World’s Poor? New overview from CGD
In this guest post, Andy Sumner, visiting fellow at CGD and reader in international development at King’s College London, describes a new CGD working paper coauthored with Gisela Robles Aguilar, global burden of disease researcher with Oxford GBD Group, examining the global poor. Sumner writes, “In our paper, we present a new global poverty profile using the multidimensional poverty measure developed by Sabina Alkire and James Foster at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. We estimate a new global poverty profile for multidimensional poverty in 2015 based on 106 countries that account for 92 percent of the developing world’s population. Here are our three main findings: 1. The world’s poor are young, often children but not necessarily farmers … 2. Rural poverty is more about infrastructure. Urban poverty is more about child mortality and food … 3. Just how multidimensional poverty is depends on where you live…” (Green, 1/8).

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World Economic Forum: How we can win the war against antibiotic resistance
In a piece posted as part of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Kristina Lagerstedt, founder and CEO of 1928 Diagnostics, writes, “How can we — within the limited time available — protect ourselves from [antibiotic resistance,] this very real threat to the world’s health? First, we must move from reactive to proactive behavior. And we must collaborate, sharing our data and best practices to avoid duplication of effort. … Second, by employing new technology for monitoring and diagnostics, we can identify bacteria to prevent potential outbreaks in which an infection in one individual is quickly spread to others. … Third, we must communicate the importance of this problem, not only within our own professional communities but to every corner of the world, including developing and war-torn areas…” (1/8).

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Brookings Institution’s “Up Front”: How corporations are approaching sustainability and the Global Goals
George Ingram, senior fellow for Global Economy and Development at Brookings, Mai Nguyen, curriculum and learning designer at 2U, and Milan Bala, masters candidate at Georgetown School of Foreign Service, conducted a review of companies with a strong record of sustainability and discuss how corporations are building sustainability into their business strategies. The authors note, “Companies tend to prioritize [Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)] that align with their core business, rather than taking an all-encompassing approach. Most companies see their contribution to the SDGs directly through corporate sustainability goals and practices” (1/8).

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NIH Fogarty International Center: 2019 updates from the Center for Global Health Studies
This post provides 2018 highlights from the FIC’s Center for Global Health Studies, including meetings held and projects launched, and looks ahead to anticipated projects in 2019 (1/9).

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