The final report from the Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free initiative, issued in Geneva on Wednesday, warns that progress on ending AIDS among children, adolescents and young women has stalled and requires urgent action.  Four-fold increase  The five-year framework began in 2015 and followed on from a global plan to reduce new HIV infections among children by that year,… Read More

Speaking in the Japanese capital Tokyo, he said the world must unite with “determination, dedication and discipline” to triumph over the COVID-19 pandemic.  “More than any other event (the Games) have the power to bring the world together; to inspire; to show what is possible,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) told the International Olympic Committee, with the Olympic flame in his hand.  He warned that the world was now… Read More

Games and sports of all kind, have always helped reduce anxieties, improve mental health, and survive times of crisis.   Over the past few months, the overall interest in chess has reportedly doubled with more players than ever playing in events online.  A combination of strategic and scientific thinking, combined with elements of pure art, chess is one of the most cultural of games handed down over generations, the UN recognizes.  Crossing barriers Affordable and inclusive, chess can be played anywhere and played by all – across the barriers of language, age, gender, physical… Read More

Briefing on behalf of the UN chief, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, painted a grim picture of civilian executions, arbitrary arrests, detentions, forced displacement and sexual violence against children, on a massive scale, in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.  She also spoke of “brutal attacks” in Afghanistan, Syria and Yemen, where 20 million people are living “face-to-face” with hunger.  “We are in uncharted waters”, she said, with the “sheer scale of humanitarian needs” never greater.   This year the UN and its partners are seeking to assist 160 million people – its highest number ever.  ‘Relentless’ attacks  The “hurricane of humanitarian crises” is compounded by a “relentless wave… Read More

This is the highest number since 2009, and nearly four million more than recorded in the year preceding the crisis, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.  “Even as countries clamour to get their hands on COVID-19 vaccines, we have gone backwards on other vaccinations, leaving children at risk from devastating but… Read More

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the recent data in an address to the Emergency Committee on COVID-19, established under the International Health Regulations (IHR), a treaty that guides global response to public health risks. Recalling the sustained decline in COVID-19 cases and deaths that was being driven, in recent months, by increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America, he sounded alarms over… Read More

According to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2021, people living with HIV are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness and death, yet the vast majority are denied access to life-saving vaccines.   Gender inequality & gender-based violence continue to fuel the HIV epidemic among women & girls. In sub-Saharan Africa, adolescent girls & young women account for 25% of HIV infections despite representing just… Read More

“High costs, coupled with persistently high levels of poverty and income inequality, continue to keep healthy diets out of reach for around three billion people, in every region of the world”, added António Guterres, in a statement highlighting the importance of the global Food Systems Summit, due to take place in September.   In a world of plenty, we have no excuse for billions… Read More