Category: Development

Water Under Fire Volume 3, highlights that children’s access to water has been threatened in nearly every conflict-related emergency where UNICEF is responding. The report focuses on nine countries where violence and conflict are prevalent, and the impact the attacks have on children. Some 48 million people are estimated to need safe water and sanitation services in the follocountries (Central… Read More

In a video message to the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of UN agency WHO, Mr. Guterres warned against the dangers of “a two-speed global response”, a concern he has frequently expressed.  #COVID19 cannot be seen in isolation from fundamental problems with our health systems: inequality, underfunding, complacency, neglect. With the right primary health care systems, we will recover… Read More

Stressing that no one is safe until everyone is safe, the UN chief told the G20 Global Health Summit in Rome “it is time for decisive action.”  Mr Guterres repeated his call for the G20 to establish a Task Force “able to deal with the pharmaceutical companies and other key stakeholders”, which would address equitable vaccine distribution through the COVAX… Read More

“The pandemic is a long way from over, and it will not be over anywhere until it’s over everywhere”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists once more, at the regular press briefing in Geneva.  Still under threat  Tedros pointed to “dramatic increases” in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, in places where the coronavirus had previously… Read More

Henrietta Fore, the agency’s Executive Director, issued the statement from New York as G7 leaders gear up for their summit next month in the United Kingdom, and as vaccine producer India continues to confront the rapid surge. Heed the warning UNICEF is a partner in COVAX, the global vaccine equity mechanism, which is set to deliver its 65 millionth dose this… Read More

Speaking during WHO’s bi-weekly media briefing, agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated his warning against “vaccine nationalism”, as  low-income nations currently receive a paltry 0.3 per cent of supply.  Trickle down vaccination is not an effective strategy for fighting a deadly respiratory virus. #COVID19 has already cost more than 3.3 million lives and we’re on track for the second year… Read More

I was delighted to mark the end of #Ramadan with Asia El-Sayeed Ali, a Yemeni health worker helping malnourished children & mothers in a @wfp-supported clinic. Her resilience in the face of devastating conflict & her life-saving work have deeply moved & inspired me. #EidAlFitr pic.twitter.com/n0JcXBkhZv — António Guterres (@antonioguterres) May 12, 2021 “At the beginning of the war, my… Read More

“Our message is simple and clear: the current system failed to protect us from the COVID-19 pandemic”, said former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. “If we do not act to change it now, it will not protect us from the next pandemic threat, which could happen at any time.”  Launched… Read More

Coming at a time when millions have been pushed into extreme poverty, the International Dialogue on the Role of Islamic Social Financing in Achieving the SDGs has the potential to provide urgently needed support, including for economic recovery, pandemic response and sustainable development.  “Standing in solidarity with those in need, means exploring how Islamic social financing can support the pandemic response… Read More

Despite decreased instances in most regions, including the two worst-affected – the Americas and Europe – World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists at a regular press briefing, “any decline is welcome, but we have been here before”.  “Over the past year, many countries have experienced a declining trend in cases and deaths, have relaxed public health and… Read More