On January 29th, Bill and Melinda Gates announced a new ten billion dollar vaccine initiative. UN Dispatch interviewed Dr. Rajeev Venkayya, Director of Global Health Vaccine Delivery for the Gates Foundation, to find out more about it.
Can you tell us a little more about the Gates Foundation’s current work on global health vaccine delivery?
The Food and Agriculture Organization recently held a workshop in Rome to discuss best forensic practices to combat the illegal fishing trade that threatens to decimate the livelihood and primary protein source of millions around the world.
At an international conference in London this week, seventy countries pledged to back Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s plan to reach out to some members of the Taliban. Despite reassurances that reconciliation would not betray hard-won social and political freedoms, much of the rhetoric from power players at the summit gave civil society observers the impression human rights –especially the rights of women– could soon be on the negotiating table.
Activists also expressed anger at the exclusion of women and civil society from preparations for the conference itself.
Last week, the communications director for the past four Republican U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations wrote a scurrilous attack on Susan Rice on Huffington Post. I call the attack "scurrilous," because as I noted at the time, the author completely mis-characterized the findings of a report to suggest that Rice was insufficiently engaged at the United Nations.
UNESCO announced today that it is launching a campaign to protect the cultural heritage of Haiti. Amid the carnage, this may seem like a low priority, but, as Director General Irina Bokova explained:
This heritage is an invaluable source of identity and pride for the people on the island and will be essential to the success of their national reconstruction.
This document was just released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It contains information current as of January 31. As you can see, the needs are still great. Over 3 million people were affected by the earthquake. Over 112,000 people are confirmed killed and another nearly 200,000 injured.