Displaced people and host communities all over the world are at heightened risk as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. The UN Refugee Agency and its staff support their actions.
Protecting vulnerable children from coronavirus: An agenda for action
UNESCO appeals to governments and the international community to take urgent action through international cooperation underlining the responsibility of rich countries to help poor nations. In such emergencies, political decisions need to be grounded in science and guided by ethics. Collective recognition of the emerging and growing vulnerabilities faced by many is necessary to ensure that health and social policy responses all around the world leave no one behind.
The World Health Organization has played a crucial role in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, ever since the first cases were identified in Wuhan in December. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus outlined five ways the agency is leading the global response: helping countries to prepare and respond; providing accurate information; ensuring vital supplies reach frontline health workers; training and mobilizing health workers; coordinating the search for a vaccine.
After UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s cease-fire appeal issued by on 23 March, United Nations Messengers of Peace added their voices to entreat governments and armed groups to pull back hostilities and allow the creation of corridors for life-saving aid. As reports of the virus multiply in conflict zones, the likelihood of humanitarian catastrophe looms too large. Add your support by signing the online petition!
In this International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife, World Health Day is reminding everybody of the critical role they play in keeping the world healthy. Nurses and other health workers are at the forefront of COVID-19 response - providing high quality, respectful treatment and care, leading community dialogue to address fears, and even collecting data for clinical studies. Quite simply, without nurses, there would be no response. With women representing 70 percent of the health workforce globally, special attention should be given to gender equality in the time of COVID-19.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, physical and social distancing practices are becoming more commonplace. But that does not mean we should stop being physically active, nor should we disconnect from the coaches, teammates, instructors and fellow fans. In the lead up to and on 6 April, the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, we are asking everyone to be active, stay healthy and demonstrate solidarity during this period of physical and social distancing. This team spirit will help us all get through the current challenges together.
The WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub offers tips and resources for users around the world to reduce the spread of rumours and to obtain accurate health information.
The WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub provides simple, actionable guidance for health workers, educators, and other users that rely on WhatsApp to communicate.
In a Wuhan hospital, a UNIDO partnership set unmanned vehicles to transport medical supplies, deliver meals for doctors and patients, and complete other emergency tasks.
UNEP partner, Ocean Agency, invites parents and children to experience the ocean and its astounding life forms from their homes. Remote diving is the new remote working.
Unlike other economic downturns, the fall of output in the COVID-19 crisis is not driven by demand. The role of economic policy is hence not to stimulate demand, at least not right away. Rather, IMF proposes policy have three objectives: to guarantee the functioning of essential sectors, to provide enough resources for people hit by the crisis, and to prevent excessive economic disruption. The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis like no other, calling for an increased role for the public sector.
World Bank teams make significant progress on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond the health impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, a major global recession is expected. The World Bank is finalizing projects in 60 countries under the $14 billion Fast Track Facility. Additionally, Board approval is expected to provide grants, credits and loans of $2 billion covering a wide range of developing countries. In parallel, proposed financing for operations that will help prevent, detect, and respond to the public health threat posed by COVID-19 will expedite emergency efforts.
As a result of their online meeting on open science, UNESCO calls on governments to reinforce scientific cooperation and integrate open science in their research programmes to prevent and mitigate global crises. Participants from ministries in charge of science from 122 countries, joined the European Commissioner for Innovation, the African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, and the WHO’s Chief Scientist, among others to address open science in the context of COVID-19 response.