Speaking today at the Bill and Melinda Gates sponsored “Grand Challenges” meeting, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson outlines the Trump administration position on U.S. aid and humanitarian relief.

“We must view foreign aid as a means to an end, not an end unto itself. A country’s prosperity and security is best sustained from within, not through foreign aid. There can be no greater measure of success than witnessing a country able to stand on its own two feet.” ~ Secretary Tillerson

[Transcript] SECRETARY TILLERSON: Good afternoon. And thank you so much, Harry, for that very kind introduction.
The work and commitment of the Bill and Melinda – of Bill and Melinda Gates and the Gates Foundation that they have undertaken across a range of humanitarian initiatives have had an extraordinary impact on eradicating diseases and improving health outcomes for people the world over. And I offer my thanks once again, as I have thanked them in the past, to Bill and Melinda both for this life-long passion and commitment – much of which I have seen up close and personal. And I certainly am thankful for what they have done to help so many.
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Based on current Zika virus spread in Puerto Rico the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) now has the following projection:

[…]  “If current trends continue, thousands of pregnant women will get infected with Zika,” said Frieden. “And there could be between dozens and hundreds of children with microcephaly born [there] in the next year.”

The CDC estimates 25 percent of the island’s population could be infected with Zika in its first year of spread there. Puerto Rican women give birth to about 32,000 babies a year. (link)

Transferring the current rate of spread for the virus to the citizenry of greatest impact, based on proximity and travel, the CDC is projecting the strongest U.S. outbreaks in: (more…)

MIAMI (AP) — Mosquitoes have apparently begun spreading the Zika virus on the U.S. mainland for the first time, health officials said Friday in a long-feared turn in the epidemic that is sweeping Latin America and the Caribbean.

Four recently infected people in the Miami area – one woman and three men – are believed to have contracted the virus locally through mosquito bites, Gov. Rick Scott said.

No mosquitoes in Florida have actually been found to be carrying Zika, despite the testing of 19,000 by the state. But other methods of Zika transmission, such as travel to a stricken country or sex with an infected person, have been ruled out. (more…)