Margaret Nielsen, PhD

Retired Social Work professor. Married. Grandmother. she/her.
@FCNL #AdvocacyTeam. Peace Social justice.
Post-#polio #disability.
Congress: 202-224-3121

[Margaret Nielsen, PhD @msunielsen]

Also at another place: @margaretnielsen.bsky.social

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

⭕️ The ceasefire in Gaza is failing to deliver on its humanitarian and stabilization promises, the CEOs of Oxfam America, Save the Children US, and Refugees International warned at the UN today.

Key Takeaways from the UN Briefing

🔹Severe Malnutrition on the Rise: Janti Soeripto noted that children continue to flood health clinics with acute malnutrition, with figures rising steadily into the spring.

🔹Complete Educational Collapse: More than 600,000 children in Gaza are set to be out of school for the third consecutive year due to total infrastructure destruction.

🔹Medical Evacuation Gridlock: Out of more than 18,500 critically ill patients (including 4,000 children) requiring urgent evacuation, Israeli authorities have only permitted roughly 700 to leave. No hospitals in Gaza are fully functional.

🔹Political, Not Logistical Failure: Jeremy Konyndyk and Abby Maxman emphasized that NGOs have aid and personnel ready to scale up operations, but the ongoing Israeli blockade prevents meaningful access.

[Larry Madowo @LarryMadowo]

"Why do Americans think that their lives are more important than the lives of Kenyans?"

My CNN report on the public opposition to an Ebola isolation facility for Americans in Kenya

[Jan Egeland @NRC_Egeland]

Visited one of the hardest hit apartment complexes in Tehran, devastated by several missiles on March 9.
Found children toys and school books in the rubble.
Many people killed and wounded after the attack here.

Families fleeing from here have been among the thousands that have received emergency relief from NRC.
Thanks to Norwegian and Swedish support 9000 families who lost everything during the war have received a minimum of relief.
Most donors have given nothing to the Afghan refugees and Iranian civilian victims of the recent war.

[Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @HelenBranswell]

Trump administration plan to quarantine Americans suspected of having high-risk exposures to #Ebola in Kenya meets on-the-ground opposition. The plan to quarantine people exposed & treat cases abroad relies on good will the US may not have right now. https://t.co/5TVpp7ho5c

[Jennifer Hansler @jmhansler]

“The US has invested for years and continues to invest in a whole network of very capable Ebola isolation and treatment facilities,” said @JeremyKonyndyk. “Rather than having confidence in the capabilities we’ve built up here, we’re sending them just literally anywhere else”

[Michael J. Kavanagh @mjkcongo]

Ebola is spreading faster in Congo than responders can contain it, the World Health Organization warned, as suspected deaths climbed above 220 and treatment centers came under attack in the country’s conflict-hit east https://t.co/TZ2XdfShus

[Jerome Adams @JeromeAdamsMD]

Just a ($8 billion) cold…
🦠

[Tommie @tommiedotjpg]

That last paragraph in the quote from Coates has been screaming at me since I read it.

[Andy Kim @AndyKimNJ]

I rushed to ICE detention center Delaney Hall yesterday when I heard detainees began a hunger strike. Here’s what I saw: THREAD

[Jerome Adams @JeromeAdamsMD]

Regarding impacts of USAID cuts: they were our on the ground communications system, our first responders, and our safety net when local capacity became overwhelmed. Sure some waste and fraud was occurring. But taking a chainsaw (literally) to it, clearly hurt response capacity. https://t.co/buTR72WUHm

[Jeremy Konyndyk @JeremyKonyndyk]

Over 1000 cases barely a week past detection.

Soon to be the 2nd largest Ebola outbreak ever, and echoing the 2014 mega-outbreak in all the worst ways.

A thread outlining the huge challenge that looms, and some thoughts on what must be done:

https://t.co/Ig3tjEZsDW

[Krutika Kuppalli, MD FIDSA @KrutikaKuppalli]

Agree with @JeremyKonyndyk

In 2014 I went to W Africa with the understanding that if something happened my government would take care of me.

Unsure how any US citizen would feel comfortable deploying knowing our government would not make sure they are okay if something happened.

[Dr. Angela Rasmussen @angie_rasmussen]

The ebola situation is extremely bad. The numbers keep going up & we are not keeping up.

Today, @celinegounder, @Craig_A_Spencer, @BhadeliaMD, @DokteCoffee, @KrutikaKuppalli, & I wrote that the US has abandoned our commitments to health & security:
https://t.co/6YMiUNDLfq

[Jeremy Konyndyk @JeremyKonyndyk]

An insanely counterproductive message. Tells any US health workers that if they get infected trying to contain the outbreak, they won't be allowed home.

In the 2014 outbreak we did the opposite, because we knew that posture would undermine the response and extend the outbreak.

[Shibley Telhami @ShibleyTelhami]

Rights Group: Israel Used New Pattern of Intentional Physical Abuse Against Detained Activists on Gaza Flotilla
https://t.co/7WNaluwvU4

[Ben Rhodes @brhodes]

Ben Gvir is not an outlier he is a key member of Netanyahu's coalition who both shapes and carries out Israeli government policy.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

Save the Children says Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan is failing on the ground — directly contradicting the White House’s claim of “tremendous progress.”

CEO Janti Soeripto said the organization, along with 5 major humanitarian groups, scored each of the plan’s benchmarks against field staff accounts, UN data, and publicly available reporting.

The verdict: supplies cannot get in, staff cannot rotate, and the plan “as it stands is not working.”

Save the Children has 200 staff in Gaza. The organization has published its full methodology linked below.

[Craig Spencer MD MPH @Craig_A_Spencer]

I joined NPR Morning Edition to talk about the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo

We learned too much, too quickly, for this outbreak to be anything but a big problem

We talked about the challenges of the response and where this likely headed

Have a listen:https://t.co/reB6stTuaQ

[Atul Gawande @Atul_Gawande]

WHO declares health emergency due to Ebola outbreak in Congo w 80+ deaths. Undetected for weeks. USAID and CDC once worked there to strengthen surveillance. As I wrote in 2023, that cut detection to <48 hrs & costs. That’s now gone. This is the result.
https://t.co/Mk0GNzpivm

[Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH @JenniferNuzzo]

Reminder of sudden, chaotic departure of US personnel from DRC in early 2025: https://t.co/2aG9akGpxB