Category: Development

Developed countries are far more likely to vaccinate their citizens, which risks prolonging the pandemic, and widening global inequality. Ahead of a dialogue at the UN on Monday between senior United Nations officials UN News explains the importance of vaccine equity. What is vaccine equity? © UNICEF/Francis Kokoroko A 76-year-old man shows his vaccination card after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine… Read More

Highlighting those numbers, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on healthcare facility managers, leaders and health workers around to adopt a set of 5 World Patient Safety Day Goals 2021 to improve maternal and newborn safety.  The goals were launched at a virtual global conference on World Patient Safety Day, marked this Friday, on the theme: safe maternal and newborn care.  Most deaths ‘avoidable’  For WHO, with all the risks compounded by the disruption… Read More

The emergency tops their list of the 10 most underfunded situations in 2021. Only one-third of the budgeted requirements of $924 million has been received, according to UNHCR‘s Chief of Public Health Section, Ann Burton, who called for more global attention and funding support.  Host States hit hardest  Ms. Burton emphasized that “vaccine inequity continues to hit the hardest in many refugee-hosting states”.  86… Read More

The international COVAX initiative aimed at guaranteeing global access to the vaccines, recently announced that it was being forced to slash planned deliveries to Africa, by around 150 million doses this year.   The scheme is now expected to deliver 470 million doses through the end of December. These will be enough to protect just 17 per cent of the continent, far below the 40 per cent target.  To reach the end-year target, that 470 million figure needs to double, even if all planned shipments via… Read More

The UN agency is urging every country to vaccinate at least 40% of its population by the end of this year, and hopes to help ensure that 70% of the world’s population is by the middle of next year.   At a press conference on COVID-19 and vaccine equity in Africa, which is home to more than 1.2 billion people, Mr. Ghebreyesus informed that, so far, just two countries in Africa have reached the 40% target,… Read More

Hadeel Al-Zoubi is a Senior Camp Assistant working in two camps (Za’atari and Azraq) that accommodate Syrians who have fled their war-torn country. She told UN News how she has fought COVID-19 misinformation which helped her to overcome her own and others’ vaccine hesitancy. “When the coronavirus first hit, everyone feared this unknown pandemic. We did not know what to… Read More

Studies show that the global crisis has exacerbated risk factors associated with suicidal behaviours, such as job loss, trauma or abuse, mental health disorders and barriers to accessing health care.  ‘Urgent public health problem’  “Suicide is an urgent public health problem and its prevention must be a national priority,” said Renato Oliveira e Souza, head of the Mental Health Unit at the Pan American Health… Read More

It’s a year since the innovative scheme was born, in a bid to guarantee timely access to everyone, regardless of their income, status or location, to life-saving jabs, as the pandemic gripped the world.  “Yet, the global picture of access to COVID-19 vaccines is unacceptable”, said the statement released on Wednesday.  “In the critical months during which COVAX was created, signed… Read More

António Guterres was speaking at a high-level event on Mental Health Interventions for Peacebuilding in Conflict and Humanitarian settings.  “Vulnerability and mental health problems are part of our collective human experience and should be treated as seriously as physical health issues, including during a global pandemic”, he said.  Connections  For Mr. Guterres, peacebuilding, mental health and psychosocial support are deeply interconnected. He reminded that “people… Read More

“I think the Delta variant for me is the one that’s most concerning because of the increased transmissibility,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency’s Technical Lead for COVID-19, speaking during an online question and answer session. “It’s doubly transmissible compared to the ancestral strain, which means that it can spread to more people.” Virus evolving Dr. Van Kerkhove said… Read More