U.S., Other Countries Must Develop Strategy To Ensure Honest, Transparent Pakistani Rebuilding A Washington Post editorial encouraging the U.S. to generously support Pakistan as it recovers from major flooding, states: the “humanitarian interest is heightened by Pakistan’s centrality to America’s national security interests. The Obama administration must seize this chance to deepen and broaden what is already a large commitment, lest Pakistan become even more of a breeding ground for terrorism…

From catastrophic floods in Pakistan that have left millions homeless and hungry to the aftermath of Haiti’s devastating earthquake, relief efforts are under way in many parts of the world where disasters have brought food crises along with destruction. In Africa’s Sahel region, severe drought has been followed by floods that are now threatening the food security of millions of people among the world’s poorest. More than half of Niger’s population - some 7 million people - as well as millions more in neighbouring Chad, Mali and Mauritania face hunger and malnutrition…

Neutrogena, the #1 dermatologist-recommended skin care brand, announced today that, with the help of teens across America, the Wave for Change campaign achieved its goal of raising $200,000 for communities in need. The donation will be divided among three causes in the US and globally, as determined by teens on Neutrogena’s Facebook Page. Understanding their passion for positive social change, Neutrogena invited teens to show their support for the campaign by purchasing Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit products and the Wave® Sonic Power-Cleanser…

Public health agencies will receive a total of $698.2 million in the current fiscal year to help them strengthen their ability to respond to terrorism or natural disasters. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funding was awarded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to 62 public health agencies in 50 states, eight territories and the metropolitan areas of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles County, and Washington, D.C., through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement…

WPAT(Jackson, Miss.): “Finding quality health care continues to be a challenge in the New Orleans area. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina flooded area hospitals, destroyed buildings and scattered patients. The health care industry has been slow to recover and in some cases, facilities still haven’t opened. … Right now, there is no hospital in New Orleans East. They all closed after Hurricane Katrina. Recently, Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced a deal that would reopen Methodist Hospital, which will have 80 beds and emergency care services for surgery…

UNICEF estimates that about 3.5 million Pakistanis only have access to contaminated water, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday in a statement, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. Approximately 2.5 million flood survivors now have access clean water (Gale, 8/26). “Since the onset of the floods in late July, UNICEF and its partners have been delivering clean water through tankering to 750,000 people, while an additional 1.8 million have been able to access clean water thanks to the rehabilitation of the water system - totaling over 2…

IRIN Examines Disaster Preparedness In Asian Health Sectors IRIN reports on disaster preparedness in Asian health sectors. According to the news service, nine countries working with Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) “have emergency preparedness plans in place for their health sectors.” The article includes comments by Frederick John Abo of the ADPC, who describes several steps countries can take to better prepare hospitals for disasters. IRIN also examines the limitations often placed on aid money for disasters…

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is gearing up its operations in Kyrgyzstan, taking into account rising food prices, a poor harvest, the onset of winter and the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the ethnic violence that erupted in the south of the country in June. “Donor response has so far been very positive - for which we are extremely grateful,” said Carl Paulsson, WFP Kyrgyzstan Officer in Charge. “But we are going to have to ask the donors to dig even deeper into their pockets to prevent people going hungry through the winter…

Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is using part of a $10 million block grant from BP to conduct research on the Gulf Oil Spill’s impact on the marine ecosystem, officials announced this week. NSU’s Oceanographic Center (OC) is one of several educational institutions in Florida selected to work on 27 research projects that are investigating the oil’s impact on the Gulf’s ecosystem and marine life. The projects were selected by the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO), a consortium of 20 educational institutions throughout the state…

In the aftermath of the explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, a dispersed oil plume was formed at a depth between 3,600 and 4,000 feet and extending some 10 miles out from the wellhead. An intensive study by scientists with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that microbial activity, spearheaded by a new and unclassified species, degrades oil much faster than anticipated. This degradation appears to take place without a significant level of oxygen depletion…