DGI Brief - July 6, 2016

Happy Wednesday to everyone. Today's top 5 global issues news are about #UK #Syria #SouthSudan #US and #Asia

- UK: The report by Iraq Inquiry Committee, led by John Chilcot, released after a 7-yr investigation concluded PM Tony Blair committed to the war in Iraq too early, w/ flawed intelligence & murky legal justifications… all that we’ve known. But it feels the UK takes the legacy of an unjust war more seriously, a heavy imprint on its collective conscience. I wish we all were more reflective, in particular about the horrors & the toll of wars, avoid them at ALL costs.

- SYRIA: welcomed respite, although it’s never been very clear what groups are excluded from cease-fires given Assad’s regime considers all anti-government forces to be terrorists. No signs of rebel fighters agreeing to this temporary cessation of hostilities.

- SOUTH SUDAN: previous studies say up to 41% of the population suffer mental trauma, show signs of PTSD. The entire country has 2 part-time psychiatrists & 1 psychiatric ward. Now extrapolate this data, looking at all the world’s wars, violence, rape, torture – what about the next generations we are raising? Their ‘invisible’ wounds not tended to…

- US: Building on its earlier success w/ Sanofi who developed the vaccine against dengue fever (related to Zika), the partnership will attempt to speed up the vaccine development that usually takes years. Financial & contractual details have not been disclosed.

- ASIA: These heavy rains across Asia are not usual for this time of the year, the peak monsoon season is yet to come. The concern isn’t just the tragic loss of life, but also displacement, effects on agriculture, transportation & of course risk of disease outbreaks. The question is whether governments are disaster prepared – we can forecast the weather, are we ready to cope with its effects?

#Iraq #Iraqwar #inquiry #report #war #Syrian #Syrianarmy #ceasefire #rebels #ISIS #civilwar #peace #AmnestyInternational #mentalhealth #PTSD #trauma #mentaltrauma #heathcare #rape #torture #USarmy #France #Zika #Zikavirus #vaccine #science #research #Rains #floods #flooding #globalwarming #climatechange #monsoon #disaster #nature #naturaldisaster #disasterpreparedness