odi.org.uk - March 2014

Water will be the main channel through which the impacts of climate change will be felt by people, ecosystems and economies. However, predicting impacts on the availability and quality of freshwater resources, and on water-dependent services and sanitation, remains difficult.

While there is a high level of confidence in the processes linking emissions to global warming, much less is known about how warming will affect changes in rainfall, runoff, groundwater recharge and climate extremes.

This reflects challenges with the downscaling of climate models, but also the significance of intervening factors, such as changes in land cover, which may have a greater influence on local systems and services than climate change. In general, the level of confidence in climate change projections decreases as their potential utility for making decisions on how to adapt increases.

This report presents the findings of research into the risks to delivery of WASH results posed by climate change in Africa, drawing on rapid case study reviews of WASH programming in Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. A separate Case Study Report provides further detail on country background and findings.

cnn.com - by Christabelle Fombu and Susanna Capelouto - March 23, 2014

(CNN) -- An Ebola outbreak has killed at least 59 people in Guinea, UNICEF said, as the deadly hemorrhagic fever has quickly spread from southern communities in the West African nation.

Experts in the country had been unable to identify the disease, whose symptoms -- diarrhea, vomiting and fever -- were first observed last month.

Health Minister Remy Lamah said Saturday initial test results confirm the presence of a viral hemorrhagic fever, which according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention refers to a group of viruses that affect multiple organ systems in the body.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) unveiled 5 priority actions to strengthen the fight against one of the world’s leading infectious killers - tuberculosis (TB) - at the 23 October launch of a new report on the epidemic. The 2013 TB report calls for more attention to multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and reaching those who are being missed by the system.

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A call for action in 4 areas was put out at the World Health Summit in Berlin, held 20-22 October. The 1000 decision makers and representatives of health-related fields from more than 80 countries were there to address pressing issues of medicine and health care systems. The M8 Alliance released a joint statement on what was needed in research and innovation; education and leadership; evidence to policy; and global health for development.