Despite steady progress against tuberculosis in many countries before the COVID-19 pandemic — with a 9 per cent reduction in incidence and a 14 per cent drop in deaths between 2015 and 2019 — a World Health Organization report released today warns that global prevention and treatment targets are likely to be missed.
A record 13.4 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali and western Niger need humanitarian assistance and protection, as fast-growing crises spread across the Central Sahel region. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the number of internally displaced people has grown 20-fold to 1.4 million in less than two years.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are helping the Government of Cambodia with distance learning programmes for the more than 3 million students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line by 2021, reversing decades of progress to eradicate extreme poverty, according to new data released today by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep concern over death threats against Congolese rights defender and Nobel Prize Laureate Denis Mukwege, calling for a swift investigation and action to bring the perpetrators to justice. The threats followed his condemnation of the killing of civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Millions of refugees across Eastern Africa who rely on the World Food Programme (WFP) to survive will face serious hunger and malnutrition, the agency warned today, citing reduced donor funding due to the socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. WFP needs $323 million to assist refugees over the next six months.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
In Kenya, the World Food Programme (WFP) has launched cash transfers and nutrition support for nearly 280,000 people struggling to survive from the impact of the virus on informal settlements in Nairobi.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The International Labour Organization (ILO) warned today that devastating gaps in social protection coverage in developing countries could compromise COVID-19 recovery plans and expose millions to poverty, as 55 per cent of the world’s population is not covered by social insurance or assistance.
Without mitigation efforts, COVID-19-related service disruptions could result in more than 500,000 extra deaths from tuberculosis, HIV and other AIDS-related illnesses in sub-Saharan Africa from 2020 to 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said today.
Following an initiative by Jordan, 167 Member States and Permanent Observers have issued a statement of solidarity and appreciation to the City of New York in the midst of COVID-19. New York City, the statement says, has been the home that has welcomed and nurtured collective action against global challenges.
COVID-19 is has pushed nearly 4 million Haitians – about 1 in 3 people – into acute food insecurity, with 1 million people now in a situation of severe hunger, a Government study found. In the first four months of 2020, the World Food Programme reached 200,000 people, and restarted emergency food and cash distributions.
The Secretary-General launched a new report highlighting the centrality of human rights to COVID-19 response and recovery alongside recommendations, saying the pandemic is fast becoming a human rights crisis exposing deep weaknesses in public service delivery that must be addressed.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with Ted-Ed, today launched an online “Earth School” offering free educational content for students, parents and teachers who are currently at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Its videos, reading materials and activities will be translated into 10 languages.
In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is warning of life-threatening consequences if annual monsoon preparations cannot be completed. A lockdown is in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, making supply delivery more challenging.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
Three new Ebola cases were confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 10 April, with more expected to be identified, as the World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee concluded that the outbreak still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
A new United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report based on data from 57 countries finds that a quarter of women are not able to make their own decisions about accessing health care, and nearly one in ten is unable to make her own choices about using contraception.
The Secretary-General and top UN officials held a virtual briefing for Member States to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as his call for global ceasefires saw positive gains in Colombia, Syria and Yemen and UNICEF continued to procure and ship protective equipment and other vital supplies to affected countries.
