Archive for September, 2019

A UN report on Yemen released on Tuesday details a host of possible war crimes committed by various parties to the conflict over the past five years, including through airstrikes, indiscriminate shelling, snipers, landmines, as well as arbitrary killings and detention, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and the impeding of access to humanitarian aid in the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

Tuesday, September 10th, 2019

GENEVA (3 September 2019) – A UN report on Yemen released on Tuesday details a host of possible war crimes committed by various parties to the conflict over the past five years, including through airstrikes, indiscriminate shelling, snipers, landmines, as well as arbitrary killings and detention, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and the impeding of access to humanitarian aid in the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

The Group of International and Regional Eminent Experts on Yemen, created by the UN Human Rights Council, found that the governments of Yemen and the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as well as the Houthis and affiliated popular committees have enjoyed a “pervasive lack of accountability” for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The report calls for the immediate cessation of all acts of violence committed against civilians in violation of applicable international human rights and international humanitarian law, and demands that the parties take action to protect civilians and ensure justice for all victims.

It urges other States to refrain from providing arms that could be used in the conflict, and reminds them of their obligation to take all reasonable measures to ensure respect for international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict.

“Five years into the conflict, violations against Yemeni civilians continue unabated, with total disregard for the plight of the people and a lack of international action to hold parties to the conflict accountable,” said Mr. Kamel Jendoubi, chairperson of the Group of Experts on Yemen.

“The international community must multiply its efforts to free the Yemeni people from the persistent injustice they have been enduring.”

Despite a lack of cooperation by the Coalition and Government of Yemen, the Group of Experts was able during the short time available this year to conduct more than 600 interviews with victims and witnesses, to examine documentary and open-source material, and to carry out investigations into emblematic cases to establish patterns of conduct indicative of alleged violations in Yemen since September 2014.

The Experts found reasonable grounds to believe that the conduct of hostilities by the parties to the conflict, including by airstrikes and shelling, continued to have an extreme impact on civilians and many of these attacks may amount to serious violations of international humanitarian law. The Experts further found reasonable grounds to believe that, in addition to violations related to the conduct of hostilities, the parties to the armed conflict in Yemen are responsible for arbitrary deprivation of the right to life, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, torture, ill-treatment, child recruitment, violations of fundamental freedoms, and violations of economic, social and cultural rights. These amount to violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as applicable. Subject to determination by an independent and competent court, many of these violations may result in individuals being held responsible for war crimes.

The Group of Experts has identified, where possible, individuals who may be responsible for international crimes, and an updated confidential list of individuals has been submitted to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Where identification of individuals was not possible, the Experts have identified the group responsible.

“This endemic impunity – for violations and abuses by all parties to the conflict – cannot be tolerated anymore. Impartial and independent inquiries must be empowered to hold accountable those who disrespect the rights of the Yemeni people. The international community must stop turning a blind eye to these violations and the intolerable humanitarian situation,” said Jendoubi.

The Group of Experts attributed direct responsibility to the parties to the conflict regarding the humanitarian situation in Yemen. The continued extreme impact of attacks against civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, water facilities, food transport, farms and market places, as well as the use of blockades and siege-like warfare, impeding humanitarian access, and other such measures have exacerbated the disastrous humanitarian situation.

“The inhumane deprivation of the Yemeni population of their rights to medicine, water and food should stop immediately. The very survival of the 24 million in need should be the first priority”, added Jendoubi.

The Group expressed strong concern that the parties to the conflict may have used starvation as a method of warfare, as these acts contributed to depriving the population of objects indispensable to its survival.

The Experts’ report calls on all States and international organizations to promote and support all efforts, notably those of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen to achieve a sustainable political solution including accountability.

The report urges the Human Rights Council to ensure that the situation of human rights in Yemen remains on the Council’s agenda by renewing the mandate of the Group of Experts and further suggests that the Council request the Group to continue to report to it periodically. The Group of Experts further suggested that the Council strengthen its mandate to combat impunity by requesting it to collect and preserve evidence of alleged violations.

ENDS

For the full report, please go to:
In English: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/YemenGEE/Pages/Index.aspx

About the Group of International and Regional Eminent Experts on Yemen

In its resolution 36/31 in September 2017, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish a group of eminent international and regional experts on Yemen to monitor and report on the situation of human rights. The Group of Experts was mandated to carry out a comprehensive examination of all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights and other appropriate and applicable fields of international law committed by all parties to the conflict since September 2014, including the possible gender dimensions of such violations, and to establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged violations and abuses and, where possible, to identify those responsible.

On 4 December 2017, the High Commissioner established the Group of Independent Eminent International and Regional Experts, appointing Mr. Kamel Jendoubi (Tunisia) as Chairperson, and Mr. Charles Garraway (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and Ms. Melissa Parke (Australia) as experts. Following the submission of the first report of the group to the 39th session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/39/43) in September 2018, resolution 39/16 renewed the mandate of the Group for further year, requesting a second report at its 42nd session in September 2019.

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Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock released today US$75 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support responses to eight underfunded emergencies.

Tuesday, September 10th, 2019

ReliefWeb

“…….The countries covered are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Mali, Sudan, and Venezuela and the neighbouring region. With $125 million released in April, the CERF has now allocated $200 million through its Underfunded Emergencies Window this year – the most in its history.

“This CERF allocation will allow aid workers to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to more than 4 million of the world’s most vulnerable people affected by conflict, natural disasters, and other crises,” said Lowcock. “The funds enable the United Nations and humanitarian partners to fill critical gaps in the treatment of acute malnutrition, primary health care, emergency education, protection, and provision of shelter, water, food and emergency livelihood assistance for people in need.”

Support to women and girls and assistance to persons with disabilities will be prioritized under the allocation. The money will also be used to sustain services and protection for refugees and internally displaced people who are suffering through protracted displacement from their homes, as well as people in host communities and returnees.

“This allocation to help boost response efforts in eight crises was only made possible by the increasing generosity and diversity of donors to the CERF. I am grateful to all Member States and other donors who have made this possible,” said Lowcock.

“But this allocation covers only a portion of the most urgent needs. There are 37 million people in need in the eight crises. With millions of people’s lives at stake, I urge donors to now provide further funding for the humanitarian response in each of these underfunded crises.”

The allocations for underfunded emergencies are based on a detailed data analysis of more than 60 humanitarian indicators and extensive consultations with stakeholders.

About the CERF

Established by the UN General Assembly in 2005 as a global fund ‘for all, by all’ CERF is a critical enabler of timely, effective and life-saving humanitarian action supporting UN agencies and their partners to kick start or reinforce emergency response across the world. Since its inception, the Fund has assisted hundreds of millions of people by providing $6 billion across 105 countries and territories thanks to the generous and consistent support from its donors, including $2.1 billion to underfunded emergencies….”

Posted in Global Health, United Nations| Comments Off

California has experienced a fivefold increase in annual burned area since 1972. Climate change?

Tuesday, September 10th, 2019

Rising Global Temperatures Influence California’s Fire Season

If it seems like California has been getting hit by more and larger fires lately, that’s because it has. In 2017, California endured the Thomas Fire, the state’s largest fire (by area) at that time. One year later, the Mendocino Fire Complex took its place. In 2018, California also suffered its most destructive fire ever and set a new record for burned area in one year.

A study published in July 2019 shows these remarkable fire years are no longer freakish anomalies. They fit with a trend of more frequent and bigger fires. According to the researchers, the annual burned area across California has increased fivefold over the past five decades, and the main driver is higher temperatures.

“Warming is affecting forest fire,” said Park Williams, lead author and a researcher from Columbia University. “But in California, the story is bound to be really complicated because there are a lot of different climate types, vegetation types, and different ways humans are interacting with the landscape.”

Williams and colleagues separated California into four different regions and examined fire activity during different seasons. The graphs above show the seasonal and annual burned area in California for 1972-2018. Overall, the annual burned area increased by 405 percent during that period.

The burned area data came from CalFire Fire Resource and Assessment Program and the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity dataset, which includes Landsat observations. Using climate models, the team then correlated the burned area with data on monthly precipitation, temperatures, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation. (Much of this data was derived from NOAA and NASA observations).

The scientists found that the greatest increases in burned area occurred during the summertime (May-September), and particularly in the forests of the North Coast and Sierra Nevada regions. Overall, burned area from summertime forest fires increased by eightfold over the past five decades. “Essentially all of the increase we’ve seen in annual wildfire area in California over the last 50 years is driven by warming in the atmosphere during summertime,” said Williams.

Specifically, the team found the strongest relationship between summer forest fires and the aridity of the atmosphere—a combination of heat and the absence of water vapor. That is not to say other non-climate factors are not important, said Williams. In fact, human activities have probably strengthened the effect of warming in some areas. “By fighting fires and living in forests, humans have increased the vegetation available to burn and the sparks needed to start fires,” said Williams, “so now more than ever the table is set for big fire as soon as hot and dry conditions arrive.”

The plots above show the maximum temperatures from March to October and October to November, averaged across the four California study regions. From 1896 to 2018, the maximum temperature for March to October increased by 1.81°C, which corresponded to a 13 percent increase in vapor pressure deficit (the amount of water missing from the atmosphere). These observed trends match expected trends from climate models responding to anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions. Over the same period, the maximum temperature for October to November increased by 1.67°C, which corresponded to an increase of vapor pressure deficit of 14 percent. Both plots show the future expected temperature trends for the region based on the climate model, Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5).

Fall wildfires also evolved. Although fewer fires occur in that season, they tend to be more dramatic now. (The Camp Fire is a prime example.) Unlike summertime forest fires, the severity of fall fire season is influenced by the timing (regular or late arrival) of winter rains and by strong Santa Ana wind events (to fan and spread flames), neither of which showed a significant increase. But if the winds are strong and rains are late, then the extra warming helps create destructive fires.

“Even though rain and the winds haven’t changed by our calculations, the fall fire risk has actually increased,” said Williams. “When you get into fall, that’s when vegetation is driest because it has not rained since spring. It is also warmer by about 1.5°C than it was century ago. That means fuels are drier today than they were a century ago.”

Outside of the forested areas of California, wildfire area has not significantly increased since 1972. Williams noted that grasslands and coastal chaparral are usually already hot, so they are not as sensitive to the extra heat from global warming. Instead, the likelihood for a large fire in such areas depends on the amount of fuel available. For instance, is there enough grass from spring and early summer growth to carry a fire across long distances? As a result, grasslands and chaparral fires tend to occur after a wet winter combined with a dry summer.

“Anytime we hear a one-size-fits-all story for what’s driving the big fires in California, we are not getting the whole story because California is so big,” said Williams. “There are different factors depending on the region and time, and there’s not going to be one solution to fix every fire problem.”

NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using data from Williams, Park A., et al. (2019). Story by Kasha Patel.

Posted in Climate Change, Fires/Wildfires| Comments Off

Subsequent mortality in survivors of Ebola virus disease in Guinea: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

Tuesday, September 10th, 2019

Subsequent mortality in survivors of Ebola virus disease in Guinea: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

Mory Keita, MD

Mory Keita, et al

Published:September 04, 2019DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30313-5

“Findings

….Of the 1270 survivors of Ebola virus disease who were discharged from Ebola treatment units in Guinea, information was retrieved for 1130 (89%). Compared with the general Guinean population, survivors of Ebola virus disease had a more than five-times increased risk of mortality up to Dec 31, 2015 (age-standardised mortality ratio 5·2 [95% CI 4·0–6·8]), a mean of 1 year of follow-up after discharge. Thereafter (ie, from Jan 1–Sept 30, 2016), mortality did not differ between survivors of Ebola virus disease and the general population. (0·6 [95% CI 0·2–1·4]). Overall, 59 deaths were reported, and the cause of death was tentatively attributed to renal failure in 37 cases, mostly on the basis of reported anuria. Longer stays (ie, equal to or longer than the median stay) in Ebola treatment units were associated with an increased risk of late death compared with shorter stays (adjusted hazard ratio 2·62 [95% CI 1·43–4·79]).

Interpretation

Mortality was high in people who recovered from Ebola virus disease and were discharged from Ebola treatment units in Guinea. The finding that survivors who were hospitalised for longer during primary infection had an increased risk of death, could help to guide current and future survivors’ programmes and in the prioritisation of funds in resource-constrained settings. The role of renal failure in late deaths after recovery from Ebola virus disease should be investigated….”

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Faxai: A powerful typhoon in Japan has left more than 100 flights canceled, thousands of travelers stranded at the airport, and nearly 1 million households without power.

Monday, September 9th, 2019

Posted in Tropical cyclones, Tropical storms| Comments Off

Stronger focus on nutrition within health services could save 3.7 million lives by 2025

Monday, September 9th, 2019

WHO

4 September 2019

Press release

Health services must integrate a stronger focus on ensuring optimum nutrition at each stage of a person’s life, according to a new report released by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is estimated that the right investment in nutrition could save 3.7 million lives by 2025^[1].

“In order to provide quality health services and achieve Universal Health Coverage, nutrition should be positioned as one of the cornerstones of essential health packages,” said Dr Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director-General at WHO. “We also need better food environments which allow all people to consume healthy diets.”

Essential health packages in all settings need to contain robust nutrition components but countries will need to decide which interventions best support their national health policies, strategies and plans.

Key interventions include: providing iron and folic acid supplements as part of antenatal care; delaying umbilical cord clamping to ensure babies receive important nutrients they need after birth; promoting, protecting and supporting breastfeeding; providing advice on diet such as limiting the intake of free sugars^[2] in adults and children and limiting salt intake to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Investment in nutrition actions will help countries get closer to their goal of achieving universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. It can also help the economy, with every US$1 spent by donors on basic nutrition programmes returning US$ 16 to the local economy^[3].

The world has made progress in nutrition but major challenges still exist. There has been a global decline in stunting (low height-for-age ratio): between 1990 and 2018, the prevalence of stunting in children aged under 5 years declined from 39.2% to 21.9%, or from 252.5 million to 149.0 million children, though progress has been much slower in Africa and South-East Asia.

Obesity, however, is on the rise. The prevalence of children considered overweight rose from 4.8% to 5.9% between 1990 and 2018, an increase of over 9 million children. Adult overweight and obesity are also rising in nearly every region and country, with 1.3 billion people overweight in 2016, of which 650 million (13% of the world’s population) are obese.

Obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes; cardiovascular diseases (mainly heart disease and stroke); musculoskeletal disorders (especially osteoarthritis – a highly disabling degenerative disease of the joints); and some cancers (including endometrial, breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, gallbladder, kidney, and colon).

An increased focus on nutrition by the health services is key to addressing both aspects of the “double-burden” of malnutrition. The Essential Nutrition Actions publication is a compilation of nutrition actions to address this “double burden” of underweight and overweight and provide a tool for countries to integrate nutrition interventions into their national health and development policies.

^[1]World Bank: Source: Shekar M, Kakietek J, D’Alimonte M, Sullivan L , Walters D, Rogers H, Dayton Eberwein J, Soe-Lin S, Hecht R. Investing in nutrition. The foundation for development. An investment framework to reach the Global Nutrition Targets. World Bank, Results for Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CIFF,1000 days. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/963161467989517289/pdf/104865-REVISED-Investing-in-Nutrition-FINAL.pdf

^[2]Free sugars include monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods and beverages by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates

^[3]Development Initiatives. Global Nutrition Report 2017: Nourishing the SDGs. Bristol, UK: Development Initiatives, 2017

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Dorian in Canada

Monday, September 9th, 2019

Posted in Tropical cyclones, Tropical storms| Comments Off

Situation Post-Tropical Cyclone Dorian is heading towards Newfoundland, Canada and is no longer impacting the U.S.

Sunday, September 8th, 2019

FEMA

Lifeline All lifelines are Green

Safety and Security

• US&R: all task forces and Red IST have demobilized and are returning to home station (NRCC SLB 1:00 p.m. EDT) • NC Evacuations: • Mandatory for Dare County • Hyde County under ferry restrictions, only first responder personnel allowed to and from the island (Region IV as of 3:25 am EDT)

Food, Water, Shelter

• NC Shelters: 1 shelter open with 1 occupant (Region IV as of 7:30 a.m. EDT)

Energy

• Minimal power outages remain across impacted states (As of 7:30 am EDT. Customer outage data is provided by the Department of Energy’s EAGLE-I system. Comprehensive National coverage of all electrical service providers is not available.)

Transportation

• NC Ports: Wilmington open with restrictions; Morehead City closed, anticipate re-opening on Sep 9 (NRCC SLB as of 1:00 p.m.)

State/Local Response

• SC Governor requested a Major Disaster Declaration on Sep 5 • GA EOC at Full Activation • NC EOC at Partial Activation • TN, VA and MD EOCs at Monitoring • SC and MS EOCs returned to Normal Operations

Federal Response

• NRCC de-activated • Region III RWC returned to Steady State; RRCC de-activated o LNOs remain deployed • Region IV RRCC de-activated o LNOs deployed to SC, NC, FL and GA • IMAT Teams deployed: o Region III IMAT: demobilized and returned to home station o Region IV IMAT-1: demobilizing; IMAT-2: returned to home station o Region VII IMAT: SC; will demobilize on Sep 9 o Region VIII IMAT: NC • ISB Teams deployed to AL, GA, NC, and SC o Charlie Team at Fort A.P. Hill, VA • MERS assets deployed to NC, SC, VA, FL and GA

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September 8, 1900: “……One of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history hits Galveston, Texas….killing more than 6,000 people……”

Sunday, September 8th, 2019

HxC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGnLXi_LtAs

Posted in Historical, Historical Event, Tropical cyclones, Tropical storms| Comments Off

FEMA SitRep, 9/7/19: Dorian’s impact

Sunday, September 8th, 2019

FEMA

Lifeline NC Energy lifeline is YELLOW; anticipate returning to GREEN later today as power is restored; all other lifelines remain Green

Safety and Security • US&R: Fort Bragg, NC: 1 Type I TF, 7 Type III TFs, 3 MRP-W TFs, and 1 HEPP; Ft. Jackson, SC: 1 Type 1 TF, 1 Type III TF; 1 MRP-W TF, 1 HEPP package; Columbia, SC: 1 Red IST (has begun demobilizing), 1 IST C cache, 1 IST E cache (ESF-9 Update, NRCC SLB 12:00 p.m. EDT) • Evacuations: NC –Mandatory 3 counties, voluntary 8 counties; SC evacuations lifted

Food, Water, Shelter • Shelters: NC 12 (-63) with 901 (-2,888) occupants; SC 1 (-22) with 16 (-1,339)occupants; VA 1 with 76 occupants (ARC Midnight Shelter Count as of 6:16 a.m. EDT) • Planned capacity for sheltering across SC, NC and VA is 30k Health and Medical • Fatalities / Injuries: FL 6 / 0; NC 1 / 0 (NRCC SLB as of 6:00 p.m. EDT)

Energy • SC: 30k (peak 160k) customers without power; NC: 61k (peak 235k) customers (DOE Eagle- I as of 6:45 a.m. EDT) • All cities reporting at least 90% retail fuel availability (NRCC SLB as of 6:00 a.m. EDT)

Transportation • Airports: NC and SC – all airports open • Ports: NC: Wilmington open with restrictions (NRCC SLB as of 6:00 p.m.)

Local Preparations/Response • SC Governor requested a Major Disaster Declaration on Sep 5 • NC EOC at Full Activation • VA and MD EOCs at Partial Activation • TN, MS and SC EOCs at Monitoring

Federal Preparations/Response • NRCC at Level I, day shift; Level III with select ESFs, night shift • Region III RWC at Enhanced Watch, night shift; RRCC transitioned to Level III, day shift only o LNO deployed to VA and MD • Region IV RRCC at Level I, 24/7 o LNOs deployed to SC and NC • IMAT Teams deployed: o Region III IMAT: VA EOC o Region IV IMAT-1: FL; IMAT-2: reconstituting o Region VII IMAT: SC o Region VIII IMAT: NC • ISB Teams deployed to AL, GA, NC, and SC o Charlie Team at Fort A.P. Hill, VA • MERS assets deployed to NC, SC, VA, FL and GA

Posted in FEMA, Tropical cyclones, Tropical storms| Comments Off

Global & Disaster Medicine

Archive for September, 2019

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock released today US$75 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support responses to eight underfunded emergencies.

California has experienced a fivefold increase in annual burned area since 1972. Climate change?

Subsequent mortality in survivors of Ebola virus disease in Guinea: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

Subsequent mortality in survivors of Ebola virus disease in Guinea: a nationwide retrospective cohort study

“Findings

Interpretation

Faxai: A powerful typhoon in Japan has left more than 100 flights canceled, thousands of travelers stranded at the airport, and nearly 1 million households without power.

Stronger focus on nutrition within health services could save 3.7 million lives by 2025

Dorian in Canada

Situation Post-Tropical Cyclone Dorian is heading towards Newfoundland, Canada and is no longer impacting the U.S.

September 8, 1900: “……One of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history hits Galveston, Texas….killing more than 6,000 people……”

FEMA SitRep, 9/7/19: Dorian’s impact

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