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 

• Drug traffickers running routes through war zones (UN News) – A new black market for synthetics and drug trafficking through war zones are fuelling instability around the world, the chief of the UN drugs and crime office said on Monday. For its part, UNODC supports more than 180 border control units in 87 countries to intercept drug flows. In 2024, UN-facilitated seizures included 300 tonnes of cocaine, 240 tonnes of synthetic drugs and 100 tonnes of precursors. 
• 16 are dead and dozens are hurt after a bus flips on a highway in South Africa (AP News) – A bus lost control and flipped on a highway early Tuesday near Johannesburg’s international airport, killing 16 as some were thrown from the vehicle, the transport ministry said. 
• Uganda deploys troops to South Sudan to secure capital (BBC) – Uganda has deployed special forces to South Sudan’s capital, Juba, to help President Salva Kiir to “secure it”, Uganda’s military chief Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has said. The move comes as tensions escalate between Kiir and his deputy Riek Machar, raising fears that their fragile peace deal could collapse and a conflict could resume.  
• Israeli fire kills 8 Palestinians in Gaza Strip, 3 in the occupied West Bank (ARAB News) – Israeli strikes have killed dozens of Palestinians who the army says had approached its troops. Israel last week suspended supplies of goods and electricity to the territory. 
• Moscow hit by largest drone attack in three years (EURO News) – Russia and Ukraine traded fire ahead of crunch talks on ending Moscow’s war between Ukrainian and US officials in Saudi Arabia. At least three people have been killed — two in Moscow and one in the Donetsk region — and multiple injured as Russia and Ukraine traded fire ahead of talks on ending the war in Saudi Arabia.  
• Clear risks that Sweden’s security situation could get worse, Swedish security police says (Reuters) – The security situation in Sweden is serious and there are clear risks that it can get worse, Sweden’s security police (SAPO) said on Tuesday in an annual report into threats facing the country. 

Environment 

• Ecuador – Severe weather, floods and landslides (ERCC) – As of 10 March, the National Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR) reports at least 18 fatalities, 950 people sheltered in 32 temporary accommodations, and a total of 83,699 people affected. In addition, 23,689 houses were affected, including 115 that have been destroyed. 
• Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar – Tropical cyclone JUDE (ERCC) – According to media, on 7 March JUDE caused one fatality, one injured person and 3,600 displaced people in Tomasina province in northern Madagascar. In Mozambique, more than 40,000 people have been affected by power outages and several flights have been cancelled. 
• Guatemala – Volcanic eruption (ERCC) – On 10 March, CONRED reported that 282 people have been preventively evacuated and sheltered in San Juan Alotenango, Sacatepéquez, in southern Guatemala. According to media, as of 11 March, more than 30,000 people have been warned to evacuate, and classes have been suspended. 
• Democratic Republic of the Congo – Floods (ERCC) – As of 10 March, reports 14,778 people affected along the Congo River and damages to buildings and infrastructure. 
• Floodwaters still threaten parts of Australia’s east coast as tropical storm cleanup begins (AP News) – Australia’s prime minister cautioned that the fallout from a vicious tropical storm over the weekend was “far from over” as parts of two states remained inundated with perilous floodwaters on Monday, even as the initial threat from the deluge continue to recede. 
• “Cool” years are now hotter than the “warm” years of the past: tracking global temperatures through El Niño and La Niña (Our World in Data) – The world is warming despite natural fluctuations from the El Niño cycle. 

Health 

• Brazil reports its first clade 1b mpox case (CIDRAP) – According to media reports, the patient is a 29 year-old woman from Sao Paulo, whose relative had recently returned from travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Currently the DRC is in the middle of a large mpox outbreak, with thousands of cases caused by clade 1b, a more transmissible strain of the virus. 
• WHO shares more details about Uganda’s second Ebola Sudan cluster (CIDRAP) – Suspected case-patients, one of them a woman who became ill while pregnant, have links to the western part of Uganda. 

Humanitarian 

• Bangladesh: Rohingya children’s acute hunger surges amid funding cuts (UN News) – In Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee settlements, child malnutrition has surged and cuts to aid funding risk creating a humanitarian “catastrophe”, the UN Children’s Fund. Speaking from Dhaka, Ms. Flowers said that last month in the camps in Cox’s Bazar, admissions for severe acute malnutrition surged by over 27 per cent compared to February 2024, with more than 38 children under five admitted for emergency care every day. 

Migration 

• Haiti – Gang violence in the capital Port-au-Prince fuels displacement (ERCC) – Since 14 February, following repeated acts of violence occurred in several neighborhoods of the metropolitan zone of Port-au-Prince, 42, 538 people have been forcibly displaced. Most of the people fleeing violence (around 67%) are now hosted in 32 already existing sites and 9 newly created due to the situation. The others found refuge in host families. Many of them are displaced for the second or third time. 
• Syria – Hostilities and displacement in Syria’s coastal provinces (ERCC) – While the exact toll on the civilian population is still being assessed, up to one thousand civilians are reported to have been killed, including a UN staff. Thousands of civilians are reported to be displaced. An estimated 16,000 civilians crossed to Lebanon due to the hostilities. Humanitarian needs include food, WASH, shelter and health. 

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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