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Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, has criticized the Ethiopian government for blocking aid to Tigray, where rebels and government forces have been locked in a two-year battle. Ethiopia’s ambassador to the EU is firing back in a war of words that mirrors the blame game the Ethiopian government played with Tigrayan military forces on the ground.
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Also in today’s edition: We look at efforts to get low-income nations the workers they need to fight future pandemics and the resources they need for the current one. Plus, experts denounce the system for doling out top jobs at USAID.
Information war
Ethiopia’s ambassador to the European Union doesn’t mince words when it comes to Tedros.
Hirut Zemene opined to our Brussels Correspondent Vince Chadwick that Tedros is “abusing” his position by criticizing the Ethiopian government’s role in the conflict with Tigray rebels in the north of the country — a battle that has wrought misery for millions.
“I would think he would think about global health — like he says ‘global health for all’ — around the world, around Ethiopia, not only in one particular area,” Hirut said.
WHO’s response was equally blunt: “The facts speak for themselves: 6 million people have been living under siege for 21 months with no or limited access to food, health care, banking services, telecommunications and fuel, and other basic needs,” a spokesperson told Devex.
Tedros, an ethnic Tigrayan, has called the conflict a “man-made catastrophe” that constitutes the "worst disaster on Earth." He also criticized the international community for ignoring the crisis and suggested racism may have something to do with it.
Human Rights Watch has called the government’s blockade an “abusive siege” that is being wielded as “a political bargaining chip.”
As always, civilians are caught in the middle. Over 11 million people are estimated to need aid across northern Ethiopia, which is confronting alarming levels of hunger and malnutrition.
Read: Ethiopian ambassador slams WHO’s Tedros over Tigray
Last call
The U.N. has raised a “final warning” before declaring famine in Somalia. At a press conference Monday, Martin Griffiths, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said that data set for release today shows “concrete indications that famine will occur in two areas” of the country between October and December. “We are running against time,” he said.
Visual story: Livestock dies in droves in Somalia — and without rains ‘humans are next’
Watch this space: My colleague Sara Jerving recently returned from a trip to Somalia. Keep an eye out for her report on the current state of the crisis there.
Hire education
Speaking of jobs, we know who’s been landing the big ones. Monde Muyangwa was confirmed as head of the USAID Africa bureau by the U.S. Senate, almost a year after being nominated by President Joe Biden.
Want to know who else to add to your Rolodex? Check out our Who's who in #globaldev series to discover new faces at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Who's who in #globaldev: August 2022 executive appointments (Pro)
+ Start your free 15-day trial of Devex Pro to read this piece and access essential analysis, data-driven funding insights, and the world’s largest global development job board.
Doc tales
CEOs and senior officials of 26 global health organizations have written to USAID Administrator Samantha Power urging her to include $200 million in her fiscal 2024 budget request to strengthen the Global Health Worker Initiative.
The $1 billion initiative announced by the White House in May aims to bolster the world’s health workforce in the face of not only COVID-19 but other diseases as well.
WHO estimates that the world will be short 15 million health workers by 2030, a scarcity that’s expected to hit mostly low- and middle-income countries.
The Biden administration had tried to get mandatory funding for the Global Health Worker Initiative for fiscal year 2023, but the push has failed to get traction in Congress, and there’s “slim chance” it will, Polly Dunford, the CEO and president of IntraHealth International, tells my colleague Jenny Lei Ravelo via email.
Dunford said health workers need support now — before a new pandemic strikes. “[But] unless this initiative is funded the moment of opportunity will pass us by,” she said.
From our archives: 'Alarms don't ring themselves, health workers do,' says Raj Panjabi
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The Paxlovid gap
A recent report on the use of COVID-19 tools and treatments in 14 countries found that health workers surveyed in some low-income countries not only don’t have access to Paxlovid, Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral drug — some didn’t even know it existed.
“We are at a point right now that we have a medical drug that will save lives, but it is out of the hands or the reach of many people on this planet,” Ali Mokdad of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation tells Jenny.
It comes at an ominous time as WHO said the world has reached another tragic milestone: 1 million people have died from COVID-19 this year.
Read: Why Paxlovid is still not available in many LMICs
ICYMI: The looming COVID-19 treatment equity gap
Career Catch-22
Being a chief of staff for a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development is a prestigious position — and can be an elusive one.
Devex Careers Editor Justin Sablich reports that job experience is a tricky line to walk: The job requires prior experience managing a similar-size project, said Evan Smith, senior vice president at Democracy International, but new applicants can’t get experience without experience. At the same time, Smith says it would be counterintuitive for organizations trying to win a bid to put someone in a funding proposal without such a line on their resume.
Read more: USAID chief of party system is flawed, applicants and recruiters say (Career)
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In other news
Al-Shabab militants blew up vehicles carrying food supplies in Somalia’s Hiran region on Friday, killing 20 people, including women and children. [BBC]
White House announced Friday that its two-day summit gathering Pacific Island leaders in Washington, D.C. will take place Sept. 28-29. [Politico]
The U.S. has not yet granted visas to Russian delegates ahead of the U.N. General Assembly. [AP]
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About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
