“Many countries heard our call back in January when we rang our highest alarm by calling a public health emergency of international concern”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) told a regular press briefing in Geneva.  Since then, he explained that they have been working closely with the UN agency, following parameters set out in its… Read More

According to the two UN agencies, immunization rates in some countries have fallen by as much as 50 per cent, with people unable to access health services because of lockdown and transport disruptions, or unwillingness due to fear of contracting COVID-19.  Polio and measles vaccination campaigns, designed to fill gaps in essential services, also had to be paused to prevent… Read More

 One hundred thousand households in Somaliland in northwest Somalia have better access to water, protecting them not just from the ravages of climate change but also against the spread of COVID-19, thanks to a project supported by the UN Development Programme.   Read More

The reminder comes ahead of next week’s World Health Assembly, the annual meeting of the UN agency’s decision-making body, which normally takes place in May but had to be cut short this year due to the pandemic.  There are more than 47 million COVID-19 cases, and over 1.2 million deaths, according to latest figures.  The Assembly will chart the course for… Read More

Opening a virtual session of UNHCR’s annual Dialogue on Protection challenges, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs, warned that “measures restricting access to asylum must not be allowed to become entrenched under the guise of public health”,  Instead, she urged States to maintain access for asylum seekers and to safeguard the rights of refugees, together with displaced and Stateless… Read More

Special Representative Virginia Gamba stated that “once again children paying the highest price and the COVID-19 pandemic has put an additional burden on them, their families and communities all over the world”. “Now more than ever we must all act to protect children and support all international efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, particularly in situations of armed conflict”,… Read More

“Public health is more than medicine and science and it is bigger than any individual and there is hope that if we invest in health systems…we can bring this virus under control and go forward together to tackle other challenges of our times”, UN World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in a regular press briefing. ‘Seize the… Read More

“Although we’re still learning about the virus, what’s clear is that this is not just a virus that kills people.  To a significant number of people, this virus poses a range of serious long-term effects,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking in Geneva on Friday during the UN agency’s latest virtual press conference.  The situation also underscores how herd immunity… Read More

“COVID-19 has caused untold suffering especially to families living in the poor urban areas who normally rely on informal day-to-day employment; many families in the coastal region are struggling just to feed themselves”, said Lauren Landis, WFP’s Kenya Country Director.  With the help of local and national authorities in Kenya, the World Food Programme (WFP) has begun rolling out aid… Read More