Somalia’s humanitarian situation remains “alarming” four years after a devastating famine with the number of people requiring emergency aid rising 17 per cent to more than 850,000 and those in “food-stressed” situations still at 2.3 million, according to the latest United Nations-managed food assessment study released today.
With speakers of parliament meeting at United Nations Headquarters at a moment when the world is gripped by multiple crises – displacement has soared to all-time highs and the threat of climate change grows by the day – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the legislators to help drive forward the new UN sustainable development agenda and ensure that civil society are equal partners in “building the future we want.”
In a project co-initiated by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the World Wide Views Alliance has carried out a worldwide consultation quizzing citizens on the issues of climate change and energy.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that it is strengthening water, sanitation and hygiene services to accelerate progress in eliminating and eradicating neglected tropical diseases by 2020 that affect more than 1 billion of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations.
A special United Nations international panel reviewing the role of existing international health regulations in the response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is studying the use of possible sanctions and other mechanisms to ensure better compliance with what it described as “a very important legal instrument in order to improve the global health security.”
Commending France’s “exemplary leadership” on efforts to tackle climate change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today affirmed that the international community is now at a stage where the final elements of the new climate agreement are being negotiated.
The climate change agreement world leaders are expected to sign in December “has to take us to a less than 2 degree global warming path because that is the ultimate test of the whole package that will come out of Paris,” according to Janos Pasztor, a senior United Nations official dealing with the issue.
In Paris today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with the President of France, François Hollande, with whom he discussed a range of issues, including the climate change conference, which is due to start in December (COP-21) in the French capital, as well as the next steps to be taken to ensure an ambitious outcome.
In a bid to find new and creative solutions to world issues, the UN, along with partner organisations, will be highlighting key work done by innovators from across the world. These will be projects that have already been looking at how to address some of the problems the sustainable development goals also aim to tackle.
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today warned that infectious diseases have become “a much larger menace” under the unique conditions of the 21st century with its unprecedented global travel volume of nearly 100,000 flights carrying 8.6 million passengers every day.
At the start of the World Water Week conference in Stockholm, Sweden, the United Nations agriculture agency today announced that it would develop a new open-access data portal that uses satellite imagery to provide insights into more efficient and productive use of agricultural waters.
The UN chief travelled over the weekend to Abuja, Nigeria, where today he met the States Governors, who can play a “fundamental role” in shaping the future of their country by implementing the sustainable development agenda Members States will adopt in a month in New York.
Nearly a quarter of all health facilities in Yemen are no longer operating fully – with more expected to close down in the coming weeks – resulting in “catastrophic consequences” for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure who are dependent on life-saving support, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
The Security Council today turned its attention to the need to develop effective, affordable and accountable security institutions, with senior United Nations officials representing peacekeeping, development and conflict-related sexual violence outlining concrete steps to lay the foundations for rule of law, peace and sustainable development.
On the eve of World Humanitarian Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is drawing attention to the 100 million people affected by natural disasters, conflict, hunger and disease, whose needs are far outstripping the capacity to help them, but he is also reminding the international community that “each one of us can make a difference” and “create a more humane world.”
With one in five children still not receiving routine life-saving immunizations, and an estimated 1.5 million dying each year of diseases that could be prevented by vaccines, people who delay or refuse vaccines for themselves or their children are presenting a growing challenge for countries seeking to close the immunization gap, according to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO).
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that no new Ebola cases were reported during the most recent reporting period in Sierra Leone for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa, thanks to strong community involvement and the thorough work of rapid response teams.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to launch a campaign aimed at honouring the sacrifices and efforts of thousands of international health workers deployed to the frontlines of the world’s most pressing crises, the United Nations agency has announced.
Delays in implementing solutions to the problems that have already been identified as threatening to degrade the world’s oceans will lead, unnecessarily, to incurring greater environmental, social and economic costs, according to a summary released this week of the most comprehensive scientific and socioeconomic assessment ever undertaken on the world’s oceans and which is to reinforce the science-policy interface for oceans.
Africa has made great strides towards eradicating polio but the job remains to be finished through strengthened immunization campaigns and surveillance measures, according to the United Nations.
