World Status Report

This report intends to give the UTD Community a snapshot of international risks, and other issues as reported by the linked media and official sources from the U.S. and other countries. 

More health and security information for each country can be found in the travel advisories issued by the governments of the United States, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, and the CDC, ECDC, and WHO sites. Not all advise in these sites will apply to US travelers. 

Please note the publication date of this report and go to the direct sources linked for the most up-to-date information. The information in this report may change without prior notice. 

Security 

• UN agencies sound alarm over renewed clashes in eastern DR Congo (UN News). Amid reports of a renewed escalation of hostilities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN peacekeeping mission in the country has called on the M23 rebels to cease its offensive, the UN Spokesperson said on Monday as the Security Council prepares to meet on Tuesday at 3 PM New York time to discuss the situation. 
• An Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Syria’s capital Damascus (Reuters), killing two people and wounding a number of others. 
• As the Ukraine war enters its third year (Reuters), Reuters spoke to soldiers and commanders in infantry, drone and artillery units on different sections of the 1,000-km frontlines in eastern and southern Ukraine. While still motivated to fight Russian occupation, they spoke of the challenges of holding off a larger and better supplied enemy.
• Russia detains US-Russian woman on treason charge (BBC News). A woman with dual US-Russian citizenship has been detained in Russia on suspicion of treason and funding Ukraine’s army.
• Ship attacks and downing US drones. Yemen’s Houthis still put up a fight despite US-led airstrikes (AP). DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels remain capable of launching significant attacks — just this week, they seriously damaged a ship in a crucial strait and apparently downed an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars.

Demonstrations 

• Indian police fired tear gas to scatter thousands of protesting farmers (Reuters) as they sought to resume a march to Delhi after rejecting a government offer on prices for their produce. The farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, have been demanding higher prices backed by law for their crops. 
• South Korea’s biggest hospitals canceled procedures and turned away patients (Reuters) after thousands of trainee doctors walked off the job in protest at a government plan to boost medical school admissions. The health ministry says 7,813 doctors have left their jobs since protests began. 
• Thousands of farmers advance on Madrid for major tractor protest over EU policies (The Associated Press). Hundreds of farmers began driving their tractors toward central Madrid on Wednesday as part of ongoing protests against European Union and local farming policies and to demand measures to alleviate production cost hikes.
• Protesting Greek farmers head to Athens in tractor convoys seeking financial help from government (The Associated Press). Farmers from around Greece were traveling to Athens in tractor convoys on Tuesday to demand more financial concessions from the government as the cost of living increases.

Infrastructure 

• A warning from home carrier Singapore Airlines that ticket prices were coming under pressure (Reuters) as costs are also rising sent its shares down nearly 10%, casting a shadow over the Singapore Airshow. It underscored broader aviation industry concerns about supply chain constraints and a more cautious outlook in Asia. 

Environment 

• Indonesia – Landslides and floods (ERCC). Heavy rainfall has been affecting several parts of Indonesia since 16 February, causing floods and landslides that have resulted in casualties and damage. 
• Pakistan – Severe weather and landslide (ERCC). Very heavy rainfall affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, north-eastern Pakistan on 18-20 February triggering a landslide and causing severe weather-related incidents that resulted in casualties and damage. 
• Peru – Floods (ERCC). Heavy rainfall has been affecting northern Peru since 19 February, causing floods that have resulted in casualties and damage. 
• Climate-affected Madagascar adapts to new reality: A UN Resident Coordinator blog (UN News). People living in Madagascar are learning to adapt to rapidly altering climatic conditions in what is said to be the fourth most climate change affected country worldwide; that’s according to the UN Resident Coordinator, the most senior UN official in the Indian Ocean island nation. 
• Bolivia floods: Alert as torrential rains kill dozens (BBC News). Hundreds of towns and villages in Bolivia have been put under alert as torrential rains continue to wreak havoc in the South American country.

Health 

• Global measles threat continues to grow as another year passes with millions of children unvaccinated (CDC). Following years of declines in measles vaccination coverage, measles cases in 2022 have increased by 18%, and deaths have increased by 43% globally (compared to 2021). This takes the estimated number of measles cases to 9 million and deaths to 136,000 – mostly among children – according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 
• Dengue activity in the Americas already outpacing last year’s surge (CIDRAP). After record dengue activity in 2023 in the Americas, the brisk pace of new infections showed no let-up in the first 5 weeks of the new year, with 11 countries reporting rising cases and Brazil among the hardest-hit nations.
• Study highlights high rate of multidrug-resistant urinary tract infections in East Africa (CIDRAP). The study also found “severely high” levels of resistance to first-line treatments for UTIs in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda.
• WHO reports 4 more MERS cases from Saudi Arabia (CIDRAP). Two people had connections to camels, but the exposure source is still unknown for two of the patients.
• Zimbabwe starts an emergency polio vaccination drive after detecting cases caused by a rare mutation (AP). Zimbabwe began an emergency campaign to inoculate more than 4 million children against polio on Tuesday after health authorities detected three cases caused by the rare mutation of the weakened virus used in oral vaccines, including a 10-year-old girl who was paralyzed in January.
• Gaza health crisis could kill 8,000 more by August even if fighting stops – report (Reuters). Even if the fighting in Gaza stopped now, about 8,000 more people could still die there over the next six months due to the public health crisis caused by the Israel-Hamas war, according to a report, opens new tab by independent researchers in the U.S. and Britain.

Migration 

• Mozambique – Forced displacement and violence in Cabo Delgado (ERCC). The International Organization for Migration (IOM) published the 20th Mobility Tracking Assessment (DTM). A total of 542,535 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) were registered in Cabo Delgado; only 55% of them are hosted by local population while the rest lives in 190 displacement sites. The top three hosting districts are Pemba, Metuge and Macomia. The number of returnees in Cabo Delgado amounts to 601,866 (Mocimboa Da Praia, Palma and Mueda). 
• Armenia and Azerbaijan (ERCC). Last year, the escalation and subsequent ceasefire led to mass exodus of people from Nagorno-Karabakh. Thousands of vulnerable refugees require humanitarian aid in Armenia, but also in Nagorno-Karabakh as some of the most vulnerable people have not managed to leave. 

Please note the publication date of this report and go to the direct sources linked for the most up-to-date information. The information in this report may change without prior notice. 

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