Devex Newswire: Former Trump ally Nikki Haley vows to fight ‘bullies’

The battle for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination has attracted another former Donald Trump ally, setting the stage for some intrigue as Nikki Haley throws her hat into the race against her former boss for president. Also in today’s edition: Myanmar creates a humanitarian dilemma for NGOs, and deadly Marburg disease spreads in Equatorial Guinea. Happening today: Register for the next Leader Roundtable at 12 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CET) and hear from chief communications officers from the Clinton Foundation, Malala Fund, Bezos Earth Fund, and Intentional on ethical storytelling and new comms tools and platforms. Start your 15-day free trial of Devex Pro to join. Haley scripture Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is set to compete for the Republican presidential nomination in a campaign that will pit her diplomatic (but still hawkish) tone against some pretty hefty political players — and a schoolyard bully. It promises to be bloody. For now, she’s up against the likes of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former CIA chief Mike Pompeo, ex-Vice President Mike Pence, and, of course, Donald Trump. Speaking of bullies: “Some people look at America and see vulnerability,” Haley said in a video announcement yesterday. “China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied. Kicked around. You should know this about me: I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing high heels.” A former South Carolina governor, Haley will be judged on her U.N. experience and foreign policy credentials. But when it comes to foreign and development assistance, she has been bluntly transactional, writes my colleague Colum Lynch. She has “fashioned a foreign policy and aid doctrine that can be summed up in this simple catchphrase: You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” Colum writes. I suspect the scratching will soon be around the eye area. Her U.N. staff outlined a foreign assistance doctrine in 2018 that, in effect, recommended cutting off aid to countries if they routinely voted against the U.S. at the U.N. For now, it’s unclear whether the 53-page tome will serve as a road map for a potential Haley presidency, but it provides insight into her thinking on how foreign aid can be used to compel countries to comply with U.S. wishes. Haley’s an underdog, but if she gains traction, stay tuned for jokes about the homophonous Halley’s Comet, which today allows a handy segue to UFOs — which the White House says are probably not aliens. Read: Nikki Haley's "what have you done for us lately" foreign aid doctrine Bounty junta How would Haley deal with military juntas in Myanmar, you ask? A new law imposed by the junta has posed a thorny quandary for NGOs, aid groups, and civil society organizations. The ruling makes registration of NGOs mandatory rather than voluntary and requires associations to declare funding sources and operational locations, among other information aid workers deem too risky to provide. But being unregistered comes with financial penalties and potential prison time. So, in echoes of the choice facing NGOs in Afghanistan, they can choose to adhere to the junta’s demands and continue operating, work illegally and risk staff safety, or cease activities altogether. Over 17.6 million people require humanitarian aid in Myanmar, so it’s a tragedy in the making. Read: New NGO law imposed by military in Myanmar threatens aid delivery Marburg strikes again Equatorial Guinea is battling its first outbreak of Marburg disease, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever from the same viral family as Ebola. There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved for the virus yet, but researchers held an emergency meeting yesterday to examine rolling out clinical trials for the current outbreak, writes my colleague Sara Jerving. Nine deaths and 16 suspected cases of the virus have been reported. The virus spills over from fruit bats to humans and, once transferred, can spread through bodily fluids and persist for several days on surfaces. Read: New Marburg outbreak sparks race to test vaccines Next generation Africa’s drive to improve its health security continues. As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed many cracks in its health systems, when vaccines were sent to every corner of the globe before heading to the African continent. As part of efforts to change the status quo, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a series of initiatives targeting youth and putting them at the forefront of efforts to advance health security, writes Devex contributor Shakir Akorede. Over 60% of Africa’s population is under 25, and the continent is expected to make up 42% of the global youth population by 2030. So Africa CDC has targeted the power of this demographic not just to strengthen the workforce, but to take on leadership roles. Read: Africa plans to drive health security with its youth population + For the latest in global health, sign up to Devex CheckUp, a free newsletter. Talks about talks The Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable — the new place to be for resolving debt crises in lower-income countries — holds its first technical meeting this week before the meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies’ ministers in India, a top IMF official told reporters. The first formal session is expected during International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings. The discussion will likely be talks about talks and talks about definitions of terms, says my colleague Shabtai Gold, but a lot rests on these meetings to solve persistent debt issues blocking many countries’ ability to invest in their future development. IMF strategy chief Ceyla Pazarbasioglu said at the fund's headquarters that the meetings won't resolve any specific country's issue but would focus on "impediments" to reaching deals more broadly on debt restructuring. Of course, China is a major creditor to some of the debt-distressed countries, and the West reckons it has blocked progress, but Pazarbasioglu stressed the need for all sides to find "consensus." We will see, says Shabtai. Mushroom for improvement “The Last of Us” depicts a fungal pandemic apocalypse — and while nobody’s expecting that to happen outside of HBO, people with illnesses that affect their immune system will very often die if they contract an acute fungal infection and it’s not diagnosed and treated quickly. Although such infections are less common than bacterial and viral infections, they carry a higher death rate, writes Dr. David Denning from the Global Action For Fungal Infections in an op-ed for Devex. But in a diagnostic program in Guatemala, he writes, it was found that by implementing rapid diagnosis for tuberculosis, histoplasmosis, and cryptococcal meningitis in 13 of 16 HIV units, mortality from AIDS decreased by 26% over the first year of the program — proving how crucial rapid diagnosis is in these cases. Opinion: Everyone needs access to fungal disease diagnostics In other news A historic Saudi Arabian flight carrying aid landed in Syria, where the Feb. 6 devastating earthquakes affected nearly 9 million Syrians. [France 24 and Reuters] Lebanon is making yet another aid appeal at the Dubai Summit, as traditional donors remain wary of providing aid to the cash-strapped country without reform. [Bloomberg] Sultan Al Jaber, the 28th U.N. climate summit chief, has called for multinational development banks to be overhauled in order to have a greater impact on funding critical climate-related initiatives. [Bloomberg] Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.