Category: Development

Produced jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), The Global Report on Assistive Technology presents new evidence of the global need for – and access to – tech that can make a fundamental difference. “Assistive technology is a life changer – it opens the door to education for children with impairments, employment and social interaction… Read More

Responding to a question from UN News, WHO said it was in touch with the authorities in DPRK but has yet to receive an official report from the country’s health ministry. Edwin Salvador, the WHO Representative to the country, also known as North Korea, said that the UN agency had supported the country in developing its national preparedness and response… Read More

The study outlines how the digital revolution in marketing and promotion is being used to advertise alcohol across national borders, and in many cases regardless of social, economic, or cultural environments.  Drinking alcohol is causally linked to an array of health problems, WHO said, ranging from alcohol dependence and other mental and behavioural disorders, to major noncommunicable diseases such as… Read More

Against the backdrop of a UNCCD warning that up to 40 per cent of all ice-free land has already degraded, threatening dire consequences for climate, biodiversity, and livelihoods, world leaders are meeting in Abidjan under the theme of “Land, Life. Legacy: From scarcity to prosperity”. “We are faced with a crucial choice,” Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the participants. “We… Read More

The online meeting was held ahead of a European Union conference next week to ensure ongoing international support for Syria and neighbouring countries hosting millions of Syrian refugees.  11 years of suffering and a humanitarian crisis endured by over 15 million of our fellow humans in Syria, increasing by the day, with no foreseeable end in sight. See the recorded… Read More

The coronavirus pandemic and other disease outbreaks have highlighted the extent to which healthcare settings can contribute to the spread of infections. “The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many challenges and gaps in IPC in all regions and countries, including those which had the most advanced IPC programmes,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General. ‘An unprecedented opportunity’ Today, out of… Read More

The figure represents 9.5 million more deaths than those reported so far, directly attributed to COVID-19.  The new estimates are the result of close consultation with countries & regions, supported by the work of the Technical Advisory Group for #COVID19 Mortality Assessment who have developed a newmethodology to generate comparable mortality estimates even where data are incomplete. https://t.co/l3DRDAEAwJ — World… Read More

Despite weekly fatalities being at their lowest since March 2020, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists at the weekly briefing in Geneva that “these trends, while welcome, don’t tell the full story.” More sub-variants The South African scientists who identified Omicron late last year have now reported two more Omicron sub-variants, BA.4 and BA.5, as the reason for a… Read More

“Acute hunger is soaring to unprecedented levels and the global situation just keeps on getting worse,” said David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP).  The annual report from the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) – an international alliance of the UN, European Union (EU), governmental and non-governmental agencies – shines a light on the urgency of… Read More

Dr. Kate O’Brien, Immunization Director at the World Health Organization, devoted her life to immunization after working in a paediatric ward in Haiti, where she saw that a third of the children admitted were dying from diseases that could be prevented through vaccines.  She explains how the United Nations, and its partners in the COVAX facility, are ensuring that vaccines… Read More