Category: Development

Offering fresh data on how social assistance spending has cushioned the unparalleled economic shock triggered by the pandemic, the UN Development Fund’s (UNDP) Mitigating Poverty assessment, revealed that in the 41 countries for which data was available, around 12 million people were prevented from falling below the poverty line, out of 15 million in danger.  Rich countries fair better  While the overall mitigation impact was strong, the study also uncovered that it was largely confined to high and upper middle-income States.  Rich countries spent… Read More

The estimate is based on losses caused by the pandemic’s direct impact on tourism and the ripple effect on related sectors, and is worse than previously expected.  Last July, UNCTAD estimated that the standstill in international tourism would cost the global economy between $1.2 trillion and $3.3 trillion.  The steep drop in tourist arrivals worldwide in 2020 resulted in a… Read More

“Like all new technology, artificial intelligence…can also be misused and cause harm”, warmed Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World health Organization (WHO).  To regulate and govern AI, WHO published new guidance that provides six principles to limit the risks and maximize the opportunities intrinsic to AI for health.  Artificial Intelligence (#AI) holds enormous potential for improving the health of millions of people around 🌎🌍🌏, but only if ethics… Read More

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World health Organization (WHO) told journalists at a regular briefing that delta has been identified in at least 85 countries and is “spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations”.  “As some countries ease public health and social measures, we are starting to see increases in transmission around the world”, he said.  There’s a lot of concern about the #COVID19 Delta variant –… Read More

In a statement to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on Saturday, three Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts insisted that “people who have endured the ordeal of torture…have an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation”, including rehabilitation.  Follow the Convention  They upheld that the Convention against Torture (CAT) provides for reparations for blatant human rights violations and to restore dignity.  “It is particularly important that Governments respect and uphold the right to… Read More

“Beyond the moral imperative, this is in our collective self-interest”, said Ann Burton, Chief of UNHCR’s Public Health Section. “As long as the pandemic remains out of control somewhere, it is threat for everyone everywhere.” To date, refugees and asylum-seekers have begun receiving vaccinations in 91 of the 162 countries that UNHCR has been monitoring. But it warned that countries… Read More

There has been increased stress, anxiety and other mental health issues, while an estimated 365 million primary school students have gone without school meals, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN specialized agency handling education issues, UNESCO.   Based on a set of eight global benchmarks, Global Standards for Health-promoting Schools, calls for all classrooms to promote life skills, cognitive and socioemotional skills and healthy lifestyles for… Read More

The facility will allow manufacturers from developing countries to receive training in how to produce vaccines, and the relevant licenses to do so, as part of global efforts to scale-up access to lifesaving treatments.  Vaccine inequity has demonstrated that in a crisis, low-income countries can’t rely on vaccine-producing countries to supply their needs.Delighted to announce with my brother President @CyrilRamaphosa,… Read More

That was one of the main messages relayed to reporters on Friday by World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said if richer countries and pharmaceutical companies wait to donate and produce more shots until next year, that will be “too late for those who are dying today.” Lauding Guinea’s expected announcement on Saturday that its latest Ebola… Read More

Based on its estimates that more than 700,000 people, or one-in-100, died by suicide in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) produced new LIVE LIFE guidelines to help countries reduce that rate by a third, no later than 2030. “We cannot – and must not – ignore suicide”, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. COVID pressure From job loss to financial… Read More