Mali's central and northern regions have been plagued by violence and insecurity in recent years. Terrorist groups have taken control of many remote villages, causing mass displacement, while maternal mortality rates are up to 35 times higher than in developed countries. Access to maternal health services is nearly impossible. In this complicated scenario, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is equipping the maternity ward at Sominé Dolo Hospital in the Mopti region. UNFPA partner HELP sends mobile health units to rural areas of Mopti to reach women and girls with essential services and transport critical cases to health centers.
Women and girls were disproportionately affected by the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in 2022. Nisha, a seven-year-old girl from the Mirpurkhas District of Sindh, had to endure months of displacement and walk several miles every day to access clean water after her home and latrines were destroyed. Sampa, a 55-year-old widow, fell ill after drinking contaminated water during the floods. With the responsibility of caring for her ten-year-old child, she struggled to fetch water daily in the scorching heat. The efforts by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to construct latrines, handwashing stations, and lead-line hand pumps in Nisha and Sampa's villages brought relief and improved access to clean water and hygiene services.
Regina's journey exemplifies how economic empowerment can serve as a powerful tool in reducing HIV stigma and discrimination within communities.
The International Year of Millets, which began in 2023, is nearing its end. It has been an invaluable opportunity to spotlight the nutritional and health benefits of millets, as well as their adaptability to challenging growing conditions, including climate change and minimal inputs. Consequently, they offer an ideal solution for nations seeking to diminish dependence on imported grains. If you're intrigued by the diversity and culinary potential of millets, explore this recipe book with enticing recipes from various regions, cuisines and cooking skills. Join the closing event organized by FAO.
Climate change is causing more frequent and intense heat waves worldwide, which negatively impact the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, particularly children. UNICEF and partners urge governments to take urgent action and ensure that frontline health workers are trained to recognize and treat heat stress, health facilities are equipped to cool heat victims, and healthcare systems are connected to meteorological services in high-heat regions. Additionally, health facilities should have cool public spaces for people to safely seek refuge during heat waves.
UNFPA takes swift action in response to critical medical shortages in Northern Gaza, with Representative Dominic Allen emphasizing the urgent situation.
The United Nations recognizes the importance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings. Governments and international organizations should invest in conditions that support happiness by upholding human rights and integrating well-being and environmental dimensions into their policy frameworks. The United Nations invites everyone to celebrate the International Day of Happiness (20 March). The same day sees the release of the World Happiness Report 2024, centered around the theme of happiness for the young, the old, and everyone in between.
Two years into the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, a hospital near the front line is saving the most vulnerable citizens – babies born into war – with state-of-the-art incubators that can transport newborns between facilities and into bomb shelters at the sound of air-raid sirens. At the Zaporizhzhia Regional Perinatal Centre, the new incubators – provided with support from UNFPA and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation – are equipped to maintain optimal temperature, humidity and oxygen levels, allowing babies to be moved safely. Despite the challenges, UNFPA and its partners continue to support Ukraine to strengthen the delivery of maternal health and gender-based violence prevention and response services, reaching more than 879,000 women, girls, men and boys with such services in 2023.
In Kabo village, men play a game with beans. The beans represent wild animals, the bag is the forest, and the players are hunters. Once the bag is empty, they all lose. This game is designed to show the consequences of unsustainable hunting on future generations' food and incomes. The Bantu and Baaka Indigenous Peoples groups in the Congo rely on wild meat as their main source of protein and income. However, overhunting, deforestation, pollution, diseases, and climate change have reduced the population of wild animals in the Congo Basin. The Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme, coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and three other organizations, works to restore the balance between food security and wildlife conservation.
The incubators at Al-Helal Al-Emirati Hospital in Gaza are filled with babies who have lost their parents. Learn about this tragic situation from two doctors at the hospital and see how UNFPA is taking action.
Mali's pharmaceutical registry digitization effort aims to reduce the approval time for vital medicines and vaccines from 18 to three months, revolutionizing the country's healthcare system.
This year's International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (6 February) focuses on the theme "Her Voice. Her Future - Investing in Survivors-Led Movements to End Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)." To reach our shared goal of ending FGM by 2030, we require more targeted, coordinated and sustained efforts. Each survivor's voice is a powerful call to action, and their choices contribute to the global movement against this harmful practice. Share #HerVoiceMatters to lead the #EndFGM movement.
The World Health Assembly designated 30 January as World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day to raise awareness of the devastating impact of these diseases on populations with lower incomes and those in situation of vulnerability, and to promote efforts for their control, elimination, and eradication.
On World Neglected Tropical Disease Day (30 January), the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on everybody to unite and act to address the inequalities that drive neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and to make bold, sustainable investments to free the estimated 1.62 billion people, in the world’s most vulnerable communities, from a vicious cycle of disease and poverty. The Day seeks to garner support towards the control, elimination and eradication of NTDs, in line with the programmatic targets set out in the NTD road map 2021−2030 and the commitments of the 2022 Kigali declaration.
Leprosy is a neglected tropical disease, which still occurs in more than 120 countries, with more than 200,000 new cases reported every year. The disease affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, the upper respiratory tract and the eyes. Leprosy is curable and treatment during the early stages can prevent disability. The Global appeal 2024 to end stigma and discrimination against persons affected by leprosy will be launched by WHO on 31 January 2024. The aim is to create awareness in the general community that leprosy is a disease spread by a type of bacteria and it can be easily cured.