Category: Development

Taking to two wheels fosters “sustainable consumption and production”, and has a “positive impact on climate”, according to the UN. Moreover, biking enhances access to education, health care and sport; and the synergy between the bicycle and the cyclist raises a more intimate and immediate awareness of the local environment. According to the UN Environment Programme, even though the benefits… Read More

In a new report highlighting how few of the world’s poorest pregnant women have a doctor, nurse of midwife at their side when they need them most, the UN Children’s Fund said that more than 800 women die every day from complications, while many more mothers live with “debilitating” outcomes. At least 7,000 stillbirths also occur every day – half… Read More

The update to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) has reclassified gender identity disorder, or identifying as transgender, in terms of sexuality, not a “mental disorder”. It is time for the world to recognize and celebrate the rich diversity of human nature – UN experts Classified now as “gender incongruence”, Lale Say, the Coordinator of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and… Read More

Don’t let smoking steal life’s breathtaking moments, urges UN health agency Tobacco use continues to claim around eight million lives a year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, in a call for faster action from governments to tackle smoking and the “enormous” health, social, environmental and economic costs it entails. Ahead of World No Tobacco Day, marked on… Read More

Ahead of World No Tobacco Day, marked on Friday, 31 May, WHO’s Dr Vinayak Prasad, acting Director, Department for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, highlighted the damage that tobacco causes to the lungs of smokers and non-smokers alike. Why waste your breath on ? when there are far greater things in life that should take your breath away? Nature ?… Read More

Violent attacks in Nigeria drive thousands of refugees into Niger An upsurge in violence in areas of north-west Nigeria beyond the reach of humanitarians, has forced thousands of people to flee to neighbouring Niger, UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday. Warning that some 20,000 people have been uprooted from their homes since April in Nigeria’s Sokoto and Zamfara states, the agency’s… Read More

Marking the International Day on 23 May to end the almost entirely preventable condition, the head of the UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said that sufferers continue to “face devastating social stigma”.   “Shame, isolation and segregation are among the indignities faced by the hundreds of thousands of women and girls worldwide who suffer from obstetric fistula”, said Dr.… Read More

‘Time for action is now’ senior UN peacekeeping official says, urging more support for Sahel force The five-year-old force working to stabilize Africa’s Sahel has shown great potential, but needs more support from the international community to reach full operational capacity, a top UN peacekeeping official said on Thursday, calling for enhanced political and economic solutions to help tackle the… Read More

Around one-in-seven babies worldwide weighed less than 5.5 pounds, or 2.5 kilogrammes at birth, according to latest data from 2015. The Lancet Global Health research paper was developed by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which not only reveals that more than 20 million babies that… Read More