Wednesday, June 10, 2020

OUTREACH MESSAGE FROM MCC:

 

To Whom it May Concern:

 

We are writing to make you aware of a Special Notice recently released by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)  regarding procurement of a partner to assist with the design of a new education project in Timor-Leste. The current notice, which is housed on Beta.SAM.gov at this link, includes a draft Scope of Work that describes the research to be carried out to assist with the design of the Education Project. The Special Notice has been issued to assess whether there are interested parties who may wish to bid on such work and to assess the clarity of the SOW as it is currently written. To be clear, this is NOT the announcement of a procurement, but rather, an opportunity for MCC to gather information about a potential procurement.

 

We kindly ask that you review this Special Notice and share it with those parties that you think could provide feedback on the SOW and that may be interested in a future procurement related to this SOW. If you have any questions, they should be directed to the Primary Point of Contact from the Contracts and Grants Management Department at MCC, Orlando Montoya at montoyaoe@mcc.gov or +1-202-772-6633. You may also contact the Secondary Point of Contact, Taylor Wolf at wolftj@mcc.gov or Phone Number +1202-521-4078.

 

Thank you for your attention.  

 

 

 

Sarah Edith Jones, PhD

Associate Director, Department of Compact Operations, Human and Community Development

Millennium Challenge Corporation

jonesse@mcc.govOffice: 202-521-3621; Mobile: 202-717-3741

 

COVID-19 Telework: Until Further Notice

Saturday, February 13, 2016

5.5 Million Worldwide Die Each Year From Poor Air Quality

New research shows that more than 5.5 million people die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution. More than half of deaths occur in two of the world’s fastest growing economies, China and India.

Power plants, industrial manufacturing, vehicle exhaust and burning coal and wood all release small particles into the air that are dangerous to a person’s health. New research, presented today at the 2016 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), found that despite efforts to limit future emissions, the number of premature deaths linked to air pollution will climb over the next two decades unless more aggressive targets are set.

“Air pollution is the fourth highest risk factor for death globally and by far the leading environmental risk factor for disease,” said Michael Brauer, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health in Vancouver, Canada. “Reducing air pollution is an incredibly efficient way to improve the health of a population.”

[NOTE: The researchers will be participating in a press briefing at the 2016 AAAS annual meeting on Friday, February 12 at 1 p.m. EST]

For the AAAS meeting, researchers from Canada, the United States, China and India assembled estimates of air pollution levels in China and India and calculated the impact on health.

Their analysis shows that the two countries account for 55 per cent of the deaths caused by air pollution worldwide. About 1.6 million people died of air pollution in China and 1.4 million died in India in 2013.

In China, burning coal is the biggest contributor to poor air quality. Qiao Ma, a PhD student at the School of Environment, Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, found that outdoor air pollution from coal alone caused an estimated 366,000 deaths in China in 2013.

Ma also calculated the expected number of premature deaths in China in the future if the country meets its current targets to restrict coal combustion and emissions through a combination of energy policies and pollution controls. She found that air pollution will cause anywhere from 990,000 to 1.3 million premature deaths in 2030 unless even more ambitious targets are introduced.

“Our study highlights the urgent need for even more aggressive strategies to reduce emissions from coal and from other sectors,” said Ma.

In India, a major contributor to poor air quality is the practice of burning wood, dung and similar sources of biomass for cooking and heating. Millions of families, among the poorest in India, are regularly exposed to high levels of particulate matter in their own homes.

“India needs a three-pronged mitigation approach to address industrial coal burning, open burning for agriculture, and household air pollution sources,” said Chandra Venkataraman, professor of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, in Mumbai, India.

In the last 50 years, North America, Western Europe and Japan have made massive strides to combat pollution by using cleaner fuels, more efficient vehicles, limiting coal burning and putting restrictions on electric power plants and factories.

“Having been in charge of designing and implementing strategies to improve air in the United States, I know how difficult it is. Developing countries have a tremendous task in front of them,” said Dan Greenbaum, president of Health Effects Institute, a non-profit organization based in Boston that sponsors targeted efforts to analyze the health burden from different air pollution sources. “This research helps guide the way by identifying the actions which can best improve public health.”