This document provides the Humanitarian Country Team’s shared understanding of the crisis, including the most pressing
humanitarian needs and the estimated number of people who need assistance. It represents a consolidated evidence base and
helps inform joint strategic response planning.
As ...the conflict in South Sudan enters its fifth year in 2018, the humanitarian crisis has continued to intensify and expand, on a costly trajectory for the country’s people and their outlook on the future. The compounding effects of widespread violence and sustained economic decline have further diminished the capacity of people to face threats to their health, safety and livelihoods. People in need of assistance and protection number 7 million, even as more than 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries.
more
Climate change is one of the most urgent challenges for people and ecosystems worldwide. The recently published sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stresses the occurrence of widespread adverse impacts of climate change. Increased frequency and inten...sity of extreme weather events, as well as slow-onset processes cause enormous losses and damages to human and natural systems. Marginalized groups and people in vulnerable situations are often disproportionally affected. While the impacts of climate change already become more tangible and threatening, action for addressing them remains insufficient. Adaptation to climate change is, thus, becoming a necessity for governments, companies, and private citizens.
To provide practical and scientifically sound guidance on how to conduct vulnerability assessments, GIZ published its Vulnerability Sourcebook in 2014. The Vulnerability Sourcebook was used in over twenty different GIZ partner countries and provides a step-by-step guidance for designing and implementing a vulnerability assessment. It is also one of the methodological foundations for the ISO 14091:2021 standard on vulnerability, impacts and risk assessment for climate change adaptation.
more
Has the world worked together to tackle the coronavirus? July 2021. This research paper assesses how the global community has responded to calls for greater solidarity in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, and presents the insights of key stakeholders and experts in global health governance, health sec...urity, and pandemic preparedness and response. The authors examine the state of solidarity at global, regional and national levels, and present case studies on COVAX and on the EU’s turbulent journey through solidarity.
more
This assessment is the first of its kind to be conducted in the south-eastern region of Myanmar. It is an important contribution to ensuring the full inclusion of women and children in Myanmar’s political, social, and cultural systems, with a specific focus on the issue of gender-based violence (G...BV) and its impact on these groups in south-eastern Myanmar. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is grateful for the participation of women, men, boys and girls from Mon, Kayin and Kayah States for sharing their views and experiences during the study.
more
Stigma toward individuals with mental disorders has been studied extensively. In the case of
Latin America and the Caribbean, the past decade has been marked by a significant increase in
information on stigma toward mental illness, but these findings have yet to be applied to mental health service...s in Latin America. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review of studies relating to stigma toward mental illness in Latin America and the Caribbean. The authors specifically considered differences in this region as compared with manifestations reported in Western European countries
more
April 2022 Volume 35 Issue 2 e00152-21
Population movements have turned Chagas disease (CD) into a global public health problem. Despite the successful implementation of subregional initiatives to control vectorial and transfusional Trypanosoma cruzi transmission in Latin American settings where t...he disease is endemic, congenital CD (cCD) remains a significant challenge. In countries where the disease is not endemic, vertical transmission plays a key role in CD expansion and is the main focus of its control. Although several health organizations provide general protocols for cCD control, its management in each geopolitical region depends on local authorities, which has resulted in a multitude of approaches. The aims of this review are to (i) describe the current global situation in CD management, with emphasis on congenital infection, and (ii) summarize the spectrum of available strategies, both official and unofficial, for cCD prevention and control in countries of endemicity and nonendemicity. From an economic point of view, the early detection and treatment of cCD are cost-effective. However, in countries where the disease is not endemic, national health policies for cCD control are nonexistent, and official regional protocols are scarce and restricted to Europe. Countries of endemicity have more protocols in place, but the implementation of diagnostic methods is hampered by economic constraints. Moreover, most protocols in both countries where the disease is endemic and those where it is not endemic have yet to incorporate recently developed technologies. The wide methodological diversity in cCD diagnostic algorithms reflects the lack of a consensus. This review may represent a first step toward the development of a common strategy, which will require the collaboration of health organizations, governments, and experts in the field.
more
Mpox is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the mpox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus closely related to the variola virus that causes smallpox. Mpox was first discovered in 1958 when outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in monkeys kept for research. The first human case was recorde...d in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during a period of intensified effort to eliminate smallpox and since then the infection has been reported in a number of African countries. Mpox can spread in humans through close contact, usually skin-to-skin contact, including sexual contact, with an infected person or animal, as well as with materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, beddings and towels, and respiratory droplets in prolonged face to face contact. People remain infectious from the onset of symptoms until all the lesions have scabbed and healed. The virus may spread from infected animals through handling infected meat or through bites or scratches. Diagnosis is confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of material from a lesion for the virus’s DNA. Two separate clades of the mpox virus are currently circulating in Africa: Clade I, which includes subclades Ia and Ib, and Clade II, comprising subclades IIa and IIb. Clade Ia and Clade Ib have been associated with ongoing human-to-human transmission and are presently responsible for outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while Clade Ib is also contributing to outbreaks in Burundi and other countries.
In 2022‒2023 mpox caused a global outbreak in over 110 countries, most of which had no previous history of the disease, primarily driven by human-to-human transmission of clade II through sexual contact. In just over a year, over 90,000 cases and 150 deaths were reported to the WHO. For the second time since 2022, mpox has been declared a global health emergency as the virus spreads rapidly across the African continent. On 13 Aug 2024, Africa CDC declared the ongoing mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS), marking the first such declaration by the agency since its inception in 2017.7 This declaration empowered the Africa CDC to lead and coordinate responses to the mpox outbreak across affected African countries. On August 14, 2024, the WHO declared the resurgence of mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) emphasizing the need for coordinated international response.
As of August 2024, Mpox has expanded beyond its traditional endemic regions, with new cases reported in countries including Sweden, Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan. Sweden has confirmed its first case of Clade 1 variant, which has been rapidly spreading in Africa, particularly in DRC. The emergence of this new variant raises concerns about its potential for higher lethality and transmission rates outside Africa.
more
The article "Barriers and determinants of asthma control in children and adolescents in Africa: a systematic review" analyzes factors contributing to poor asthma control in African youth. Based on studies conducted between 2014 and 2019 in Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa, the review identifies key... challenges such as limited access to asthma diagnosis, inadequate use of inhaled corticosteroids, and environmental and socio-economic factors. It finds that urban living, older age, and concurrent allergic conditions significantly affect asthma management. The study emphasizes the need for improved diagnostic tools, better access to treatment, and tailored public health interventions to enhance asthma outcomes in African children.
more
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require the international community to mobilize significant additional financing over the next decade. Tracking and analyzing this funding is central to measuring progress and making more informed choices to direct financial flows where they wi...ll have the greatest impact. This brief highlights AidData’s updated methodology to track financing to the SDGs, providing a baseline of funding for the years immediately before and after their launch. To track SDG-related financing, we build on our 2017 pilot methodology. Using data from the OECD CRS database on all official development assistance between 2010 and 2016, we identify individual projects that are linked to specific SDG goals or targets and then quantify total financing by SDG. This brief highlights four countries that represent different development contexts and trajectories, exploring how a country’s individual context impacts its SDG-related donor funding by examining the composition of funding and financing trends. We also look at SDG financing from the perspective of donors to see how their own interests are reflected in development portfolios across different countries.
more
Chromoblastomycosis (CMB) is a chronic fungal infection of the skin and the subcutaneous tissue caused by a transcutaneous traumatic inoculation of a specific group of dematiaceous fungi occurring mainly in tropical and subtropical zones worldwide. If not diagnosed at early stages, patients with CBM... require long term therapy with systemic antifungals, sometimes associated with physical methods. Unlike other neglected endemic mycoses, comparative clinical trials have not been performed for this disease. Nowadays, therapy is based on a few open trials and on expert opinion. Itraconazole either as monotherapy or associated with other drugs, or with physical methods, is widely used. Recently, photodynamic therapy has been successfully employed in combination with antifungals in patients presenting with CBM. In the present revision the most used therapeutic options against CBM are reviewed as well as the several factors that may have impact on the patient's outcome.
more
The Arab region in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) represents a substantial area of the terrestrial landmass encompassing several countries and ecosystems. This area is generally drier and warmer compared to the rest of the world and has extreme resource limitations that are highly vulnerabl...e to a changing climate, geopolitical instability and land degradation (Slimani & Aidoud, 2004). Agriculture (crops and livestock) is a critical source of employment and a potential option for engaging rural youth. However, environmental degradation coupled with declining and variable agricultural productivity may pose a massive challenge already beset by instability and declining oil reserves (Tagliapietra, 2017). The Arab region is also subjected to short and long-duration climate extreme events, and the overall impact of their cascading effects on ecosystems, societies and economies is still an open question. Climate change, along with post-war geopolitical complexities, has greatly affected the Arab region in terms of its economy and social balance. Climate change has penetrating effects on the region’s agriculture sector and hence its economy. These are mainly manifested via changes in water resources and extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves and a drastic decline in precipitation.
more
Briefing note | 16 March 2020
Do no harm, equality, transparency, humanity: values should guide the criminal justice sector’s response to coronavirus
At the time of publishing there were more than 164,000* confirmed cases of COVID- 19, the novel form of Coronavirus, affecting 110 countries wit...h more than 6,470 deaths. In this briefing we assess the current situation of COVID-19 outbreaks and prevention measures in prisons** and wider impacts of responses to governments on people in criminal justice systems. This briefing note argues for action to be taken now and immediately, given the risk people in prison are exposed to, including prison staff.
more
The report showed commitments made three decades ago to protect the rights of children remain unfulfilled for millions. Violence still affects countless children. Discrimination based on age, gender, disability, sexual orientation and religion harms children worldwide.
The UN Convention on the Ri...ghts of the Child is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in history. It has prompted substantial investment in children’s health, education and safety and the adoption of laws and policies that recognise the rights of children, particularly in areas where they are vulnerable, including labour exploitation, corporal punishment, alternative care and forced and early marriage.
more
Screening programmes for tuberculosis (TB) among immigrants rarely consider the heterogeneity of
risk related to migrants’ country of origin. We assess the performance of a large screening programme in asylum seekers by analysing (i) the difference in yield and numbers needed to screen (NNS) by c...ountry and WHO-reported TB burden, (ii) the possible impact of screening thresholds on sensitivity, and (iii) the value of WHO-estimated TB burden to improve the prediction accuracy of screening yield.
more
The BRACED Myanmar Alliance was a three-year project aiming to ‘build the resilience of 350,000 people across Myanmar to climate extremes’. The project worked in 7 states, 8 townships and 155 communities. The main impact for project populations was intended to be ‘improved well-being and reduc...ed loss and damage despite climate shocks’, and the project sought to do this by addressing immediate hazard-related needs at community level while encouraging longer-term solutions driven and delivered by communities and subnational and national government.
Community Resilience Assessments (CRAs) were the first activities delivered as part of the project, and the list of community-identified needs became the basis from which local-level project interventions were selected. The selection typically involved an infrastructure requirement (linked to addressing a natural hazard, and sometimes shared between communities); a package of livelihood support (assets and trainings); capacity-building on climate change/resilience topics; and village savings and loans association (VSLA) support. A particular emphasis was placed on women’s empowerment, and leadership trainings and support to women’s self-help groups were provided.
more
We systematically reviewed Medline as well as the references of published review articles for relevant studies of adherence to multidrug treatment of both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB through February 3, 2018. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as well as prospective and retro...spective cohort studies (CSs) with an internal or external control group that evaluated any adherence intervention and conducted a meta-analysis of their impact on TB treatment outcomes. Our search identified 7,729 articles, of which 129 met the inclusion criteria for quantitative analysis. Seven adherence categories were identified, including DOT offered by different providers and at various locations, reminders and tracers, incentives and enablers, patient education, digital technologies (short message services [SMSs] via mobile phones and video-observed therapy [VOT]), staff education, and combinations of these interventions.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002595
more
In the last 5 years, the conflict in South Sudan has displaced 4 million people and placed 7 million in need of humanitarian assistance.
This report commissioned by Plan International draws on research conducted with girls and members of their families and communities in multiple sites in South... Sudan and Uganda.
It explores how adolescent girls within two age brackets (aged 10-14 and 15-19) understand and respond to the unique impact their country’s crisis has upon them.
It seeks to amplify their voices and their perceptions of the crisis and presents their views on how the humanitarian sector might respond.
more
These guidelines were developed as part of Kenya's fast-track plan to end AIDS among adolescents and young people. Based on research into adolescent and young key populations in Kenya and elsewhere, they outline a package of HIV prevention services, and emphasize the need to combine biobehavioural i...nterventions with services in education, job skills training, mental health, and social care and protection.
more
There are social and environmental barriers faced by persons with disabilities which have been reported in literature. In discussing these barriers, attention is yet to be given to the support from families to members with disabilities. This study aimed to examine family support and its impact on th...e lives of persons with disabilities in Ghana.
more
States, the United Nations and civil society organisations continue to raise concerns about the humanitarian impact caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas (EWIPA). This issue is currently being examined from political, legal, socio-economic and humanitarian perspectives. The GICHD... has undertaken research to provide a technical perspective on the destructive effects of selected explosive weapons to inform the international debate.
The research project attempts to reduce an observed knowledge gap regarding EWIPA. It seeks to provide clarity concerning the immediate physical effects and terminology used when discussing explosive weapons. The project is guided by a group of experts dealing with weapons-related research and practitioners who address the implications of explosive weapons in humanitarian, policy, advocacy and legal fields.
more