Center for Global Initiatives' Newsletter

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Greetings and welcome to the latest edition of our growing newsletter! Volume 1, Number 3
News, Tools and Reports
1) Discounted Humanitarian Airfares
3 FREE Checked Bags Globally Delta, KLM and Air France have released a new Humanitarian Airfare contract. There are many new benefits to this including the ability to check 3 bags for free! Read about other benefits of booking your Delta Humanitarian rate with Fly For Good on our blog.
Booking Humanitarian Airfare Looking for a quote or ready to book? Speaking with a Fly For Good travel agent directly can save you money because they have access to discounted airfare that is not available anywhere online.

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Benefits of Humanitarian Fares on Delta + 3 FREE BAGS GLOBALLY + One-way, round-trip or reversal one-way fares + 0 days minimum stay, 12 month maximum stay + One free change allowed + Minimal cancellation fee + Earns Skymiles What This Means for You More options. Any time an airline, especially one as large as Delta, offers an update to their humanitarian contract, we are able to offer you a wider variety of discounted flights. Better fares for Africa travel. Because Delta flies so many routes into Africa and the Middle East, there is greater opportunity for humanitarian travelers to access discounted fares to Africa Earn more Delta Skymiles on humanitarian flights. Starting in 2015, humanitarian flights will earn miles as shown on Earn With Delta. In the past, discounted flights would earn only 25-50% of the miles of regularly prices fares Here are 3 easy ways to book Humanitarian Airfare: + Call: 877 FLY 4 GOOD + Email: info@flyforgood.com + Use the website: Fill out a simple form on Book Airfare page.
http://www.flyforgood.com/delta-airlines-new-humanitarian-fares-overview/ I have used them for a number of African flights and they are great! Also, I nor CGI, have any commercial relationship with Fly For Good, but they do appear on our website: http://centerforglobalinitiatives.org/tools.cfm because we support them!
2) Volatility in South Sudan More than 9 months of fighting in South Sudan has drive hundreds of thousands of people deep into the bush. Accessing health care—or any form of aid—is either extremely dangerous or impossible. Many communities are facing emergency levels of food insecurity and malnutrition while contending with the region’s usual health risks, such as malaria and kala azar infection, according to humanitarian groups. Hospitals and health centers have also been attacked by government and rebel forces. “We are more than deeply concerned about attacks on the health structures”, said Dominik Stillhart, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross. “These are very serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
Lancet
3) Orthopedic Care and rehab Opportunities
Efosa L. Guobadia, PT, DPT, was in Guatemala City, Guatemala and collaborated with the Guatemala Physical Therapy Association and with the Universidad de Panamericana. This University offers the only Bachelor’s Degree that is recognized by the World Confederation of Physical Therapy. Plans are in place to create an annual continuing education week/weekend for PT and PT students in Guatemala that is taught by PT’s from MissionWorks and other organizations. If interested in 2015 trips please email missionworks@atipt.com . See more at: http://www.pthaven.com/globalptconnect and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13mrnj1B-

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Grant, Funding, and Other Opportunities
2) USAID Programs
You are invited to their next webinar for higher education community and partners. The purpose of the webinar is three-fold: 1) to bring attention to USAID programs, policies and strategic investment areas that may be of interest to the Higher Education community; 2) to highlight the work of diverse higher education institutions on a range of development and global engagement fronts – with and without USAID funding; and 3) to share upcoming opportunities for engagement with USAID. Webinar site: https://ac.usaid.gov/highered USAID Bureaus/Offices: Bureau for Global Health American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Bureau for Africa Partnership for Enhanced Engagement for Research (PEER) Higher Education Institution Speakers: Dr. Goulda Downer, Howard University School of Medicine Dr. Nkem Khumbah, STEM Africa Initiative, University of Michigan Dr. Stephen Feinson, Arizona State University
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/usaid-higher-education-webinar-registration-13260800411
Ebola and Infectious Disease Related
Aggregated News Reports from:
Lessons from Death in Venice Venice’s innovative handling of the Black Death in the 14th century might guide today’s fight against Ebola,

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suggest risk management experts in an article in Environment Systems and Decisions. Venice recognized the unpredictable nature of threats to public health, and its reaction mirrors modern-day resilience theory. The authors cite Venice, which created an early quarantine hospital and respirator mask, for being methodical and disciplined, yet flexible in its approach. When science can’t provide all the answers, as we’re seeing with Ebola, flexibility and resilience can keep a country from descending into chaos, according to the authors. NPR
“Their imaginations were unequal to the virulence of the pathogen,” write the authors (Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis, Lenny Bernstein and Joel Achenbach) in this detailed history of all the politics and on- the-ground missteps and heroism alike. They trace the perfect storm that helped Ebola seize control over West Africa, becoming “a scene out of Dante,” in the words of CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD. It’s impressive and thorough journalism, including a gripping and detailed narrative, poignant photos by Michel du Cille, and an infographic of stages the fever. The Washington Post team should be commended. Washington Post
Ebola Vaccine Status If the 2 top candidate Ebola vaccines already in the development pipeline are proven safe and effective in phase 1 studies, a substantial quantity won’t be available until earliest the first quarter of 2015, Rupa Kanapathipillai and colleagues report in this NEJM "Perspective" article. The 2 vaccines are cAd3-EBOV (cAd3), from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and rVSVΔG-EBOV-GP (rVSV), from NewLink Genetics and the Public Health Agency of Canada. (Several other vaccine candidates are in the pipeline though at preclinical stages.) “Even if an effective vaccine can be produced, it is not likely to be 100% effective, so to succeed in stemming the current outbreak, a coordinated effort to improve capacity and provide clinical care in affected countries needs to be scaled up urgently,” according to the authors. Another WHO-arranged meeting is planned for November to reevaluate the next necessary steps once preliminary results from the phase 1 trials are available. The New England Journal of Medicine Disease Detectives When an Ebola patient emerged in Dallas, Texas, the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) sent a pair of epidemiologists to run a surveillance operation with local health officials. As many of us know, every year, the CDC hires 70 to 80 EIS officers to spend 2 years tackling everything from smoking cessation to H1N1 outbreaks. With the Ebola outbreak growing,
How A Virus Outsmarted the World Ebola managed to exploit all the weak links in the global health system—bureaucratic delays, weak health systems and cultural practices that speeded the spread of the virus, and early miscalculations by some of the most practiced health officials—to bring us to this point.

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these “passionate, geeky, problem solvers” are taking on an increasingly important role. The program’s logo is “a sole of a shoe with a hole worn in it; you’re supposed to be the feet on the ground of our public health infrastructure,” says EIS alum Tracy Creek. Marketplace Help Wanted AmeriCares is expanding its Ebola response and will launch an Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Liberia with its partner, the International Organization for Migration For the ETU, it's hiring a team to operate the ETU and to teach others to do the same. AmeriCares is looking for doctors and nurses (preferably with ID experience); water, sanitation and environmental health experts and mental health professionals AmeriCares Related: Ebola patient dies in Texas; five U.S. airports to screen for fever – Reuters Related: Ebola crisis: global response has ‘failed miserably’, says World Bank chief – The Guardian Related: We Don't Know A Lot About Dogs And Ebola — But We Should – NPR
Related: Ebola could infect 500,000 by end of January, according to CDC projection – Washington Post Related: With Ebola crippling the health system, Liberians die of routine medical problems – Washington Post Related: The West ignores the stories of Africans in the middle of the Ebola outbreak – Washington Post
Related: Ebola Victim’s Journey From Liberian War to Fight for Life in US – The New York Times Related: Ebola crisis in Liberia: The orphans of Monrovia's 'hotel' tent – The Independent (UK) Related: Ebola, a disease that ‘doesn’t forgive’: Doctors Without Borders train to beat it – BizNews.com
Related: Outbreak of Ebola-like Marburg fever kills man in Uganda – Reuters UK

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http://reference.medscape.com/viewarticle/831792?src=wnl_edit_specol&uac=17144PJ
http://online.wsj.com/articles/what-new-airport-screening-measures-mean-for-u-s-travelers- 1412796177?tesla=y

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Links: http://ec.libsyn.com/p/c/0/2/c02c14c9a4bfac55/JAMA_2014-10- 02_Interview_with_Dr_Aiah_A._Gbakima.mp3?d13a76d516d9dec20c3d276ce028ed5089ab1ce3dae902ea1d06c9853ed7c15d29ac&c_id=7693094
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1915432&utm_source=Silverchair%20Information%20Systems&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JAMA%3AOnlineFirst10%2F06%2F2014
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1915433&utm_source=Silverchair%20Information%20Systems&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=JAMA%3AOnlineFirst10%2F06%2F2014
Ebola in the ER/ED, what do you do? This…
http://learning.bmj.com/learning/module- intro/.html?moduleId=10051492&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=17451&utm_content=Ebola%20and%20emergency%20medicine&utm_term=Quick%20tips%3A%20Ebola%20virus& utm_source=Adestra_BMJ%20Learning

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Evaluating Patients for Ebola: CDC Recommendations for Clinicians http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/832790?nlid=67145_439&src=wnl_edit_medp_publ&uac=17144PJ&spon=42?src=sttwit What can we learn from 1976…? http://www.livescience.com/48170-ebola- outbreak-in-1976- revisited.html?cmpid=558464
DENGUE Fever Spikes Southern China is suffering from its worst outbreak of dengue fever in 2 decades. Recent hot and wet weather fueled the outbreak, with mosquito numbers up 5-fold, Chinese authorities report. More than 1,000 new cases emerged each day last week. There is no approved vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease—aka "breakbone fever" due to the severe muscle and joint pain it causes. Elsewhere in Asia, Malaysia and Taiwan have reported more cases and deaths in 2014 than in previous years, and Japan has seen 150-plus infections in its first outbreak of the tropical disease since 1945. CNN

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HIV/AIDS Turning the Virus’s Tricks on Itself The tactics HIV deploys to infect cells could pave the way for a vaccine—which has eluded scientists for decades, according to separate studies published yesterday in Nature and Science. The recent research delves into the structure of a spike on the surface of HIV, used to fuse with and enter cells. The researchers hope that a vaccine could be designed to keep the spike in a closed state, thus blocked from infecting cells. The Quote: “We can expect a lot of activities being devoted to that goal,” said Yale University virologist Walther Mothes, who called the findings a “major step forward for drug and vaccine design." Thomson Reuters Related: Giving Doctors Guidance on Drugs to Prevent HIV – The New York Times
MATERNAL MORTALITY Crisis in Northern Pakistan Pakistan’s military campaign against the Taliban in its northern Federally Administered Tribal Areas is causing a humanitarian crisis involving more than a half million people. Since the campaign began in June in North Waziristan, many residents have fled to a nearby Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and live in immense IDP camps. In the city of Bannu alone, 40,000 pregnant women face a lack of hospitals, doctors and basic medical supplies. WHO is helping the overwhelmed KP health department. 73% percent of displaced women and children in Bannu are in “desperate need of care,” IPS reports. IPS NUTRITION Humanitarian Bees Natural pollinators like bees and butterflies may only support 5-10% of the world’s agricultural crops, but they are essential to some of the most nutritionally promising crops for the world’s malnourished. Many regions that depend on natural pollination are also very poor, and especially vulnerable to the global decline of domesticated and wild bees. To map the problem, a team led by Stanford landscape ecologist Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer explored the nutrient content, pollination dependence and regional agricultural yields for more than 100 common crops. And the team identified the areas dependent on pollinators to produce crops rich in vitamin A, iron and folate. They found that while more developed parts of the world tend to rely on natural pollinators for cash crops, areas like South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa depend on them for crops critical for nutrition, noted in a study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Science AAAS

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Upcoming Conferences and Events
SRII India Summit on Nov 6-7, 2014 in Bangalore is going to be a great summit
Kris Singh, SRII President & CEO, would like invite as many key leaders and researchers in industry, startups, academia and government organizations. Summit registration details will be available shortly at: http://thesrii.in/ For summit registration questions, please contact: Allahbaksh at: allahbaksh_asadullah@infosys.com
Conflict Transformation
And Spirit of the UN
Learn more at: http://meaningfulworld.com/our- work/events

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Thanks!
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Cheers, and thank you for your work,
Chris http://DrChrisStout.com Founding Director, http://CenterForGlobalInitiatives.org LinkedIn Influencer: http://www.linkedin.com/influencer/3055695 American Psychological Association International Humanitarian Award Winner, http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec07/rockstar.html