In an essay published in this week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a Johns Hopkins emergency physician outlines how he and other physicians who worked in Haiti after the earthquake had to make emotionally difficult ethical decisions daily in the face of a crushing wave of patients and inadequate medical resources. Thomas D. Kirsch, M.D., M.P.H…

Nearly 50% Of Food Aid Sent To Somalia Never Makes It To People In Need “As much as half the food aid sent to Somalia is diverted from needy people to a web of corrupt contractors, radical Islamist militants and local United Nations staff members, according to a new Security Council report,” the New York Times reports. “The report, which has not yet been made public …

The Senate Finance Committee’s chair, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), and top Republican, Charles Grassley (Iowa), are working with colleagues in the House on legislation that would lower tariffs in an effort to help Haiti’s apparel industry and help the country recover from the major January earthquake, CQ Politics reports. “The bipartisan effort comes as Senate Finance leaders consider ramping up their work to broadly overhaul multiple U.S. trade preference programs, which lower or eliminate U.S. tariffs on a wide range of products from many developing countries,” according to the publication (3/9)…

The American Red Cross announced it is allocating an additional $24.4 million for Haiti earthquake relief and recovery, increasing its total commitment to date to $106.4 million. The Red Cross made its funding announcement the same day that Haitian President Rene Preval is visiting the White House to discuss the urgent need for more aid from the international community to help that island nation recover from the January 12th earthquake. The latest allocation of funds by the American Red Cross includes $16…

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Wednesday that the country has enough food and fuel to meet citizens’ needs, Dow Jones Newswires reports. She said the government has adequate resources to enable business recovery and to help rebuild houses, and she wants the private sector to play a major role in the rebuilding effort. “Soon it will be the time to get back on our feet and entrepreneurs will be up to the challenge,” she said, according to the news service…

Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive “demanded more information on Wednesday about foreign aid pouring into the earthquake-stricken country and urged that his government not be sidelined in reconstruction efforts,” Reuters reports. “Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive decried a lack of coordination by aid donors with his government but stopped short of saying all bilateral aid should be funneled through the government. ‘We don’t know who has given money to NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and how much money have they given. …

As part of her trip to Latin America, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton handed out 25 satellite phones on Tuesday in Chile and said the U.S. would help “in any way the government of Chile asks us to,” the Washington Times reports (3/3). “Clinton toured an area of the airport where tea, flour and other supplies were being loaded into boxes for shipment to parts of the country where supplies are short,” the Associated Press/New York Times reports. “Meeting with the country’s president-elect [Sebastian Pinera], Clinton said she is sure Chile is handling the disaster well…

A Refugees International report, released on Tuesday, says U.N. aid efforts in Haiti since the earthquake have not been sufficiently coordinated with local groups, the New York Times reports. Among other things, the lack of coordinated response has enabled sexual abuse of women and girls in temporary camps, according to Emilie Parry, an aid consultant who helped write the report. She said some girls have been trading sex for shelter and noted that there is no night watch system in the camps, which are housing many of Haiti’s homeless earthquake survivors, according to the newspaper…

During a scheduled trip to Latin America, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Chile Tuesday “to offer support” after a major earthquake struck over the weekend, Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reports (Boyd/Smith, 3/2). Though the Chilean government initially passed on outside aid, it “changed course” and requested international assistance on Monday, according to the New York Times (Barrionuevo/Lacey, 3/1). Clinton brought 20 satellite phones with her and will use the trip to “assess what the United States can do to help the country recover,” USA Today reports. She said the U…

During a phone call on Monday, Bill Clinton, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, asked U.N. officials to provide more tents, latrines and hurricane-proof shelter to improve housing and sanitation for Haitian earthquake survivors living in temporary camps, the Associated Press writes. According to Clinton, the needs of many people who survived the earthquake are not being met. Clinton “also called for strengthening job and agricultural programs