Category: Development

A Neglected Tragedy: The Global Burden of Stillbirths, released by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), reveals that 84 per cent of these grievous episodes occur in low and lower-middle income countries. The first-ever joint global estimates also point out that stillbirths remain… Read More

Launching his latest policy brief, “COVID-19 and Universal Health Coverage”, Secretary-General António Guterres called on everyone to draw “hard lessons” from the pandemic, for which the world was not prepared.  One of those lessons, he said, “is that under-investment in health can have a devastating impact on societies and economies.”  The pandemic revealed utterly inadequate health systems, yawning gaps in… Read More

Speaking to a special session of the agency’s Executive Board, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 10 countries account for 70 per cent of all reported cases and deaths, and just three countries account for half.    “Not all countries have responded the same way, and not all countries have been affected the same way”, he told the 34 members. … Read More

Announcing the findings on Monday, the UN health agency also said that the pandemic has increased the need for the vital services.  “COVID-19 has interrupted essential mental health services around the world just when they’re needed most,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, calling on world leaders to “move fast and decisively to invest more in life-saving mental health programmes… Read More

To be sure, countries are also seeing some two million new COVID-19 cases each week, WHO Executive Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at his latest press briefing in Geneva. Varying country contexts Describing four varying national situations, he said those countries that jumped on the virus quickly have avoided large outbreaks.  Others had large outbreaks but were able to… Read More

Authorities declared a three-month state of emergency in early September after the worst flooding in 30 years.  To date, more than 860,000 people have had houses destroyed or damaged and more than 120 people have died.  Some 560 schools and thousands of health facilities have also been affected, compromising essential services to communities, especially in North Darfur, Khartoum, West Darfur and Sennar, which account for 52 per cent of all people affected.   #Sudan… Read More

In the Introduction, Secretary-General António Guterres said the international community should reflect on “our shared progress as well as…our vision and values”. He highlighted some of the Organization’s accomplishments, such as putting in place vital agreements that codify and protect human rights, setting ambitious goals for sustainable development, and charting a path towards a more balanced relationship with the natural… Read More

The Access to COVID-19 Tools – the ACT-Accelerator – along with its COVAX Facility, is a groundbreaking global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.  Launched at the end of April 2020, the ACT-Accelerator has secured $3 billion, critical for its start up, but it needs a further $35 billion – including an… Read More

On the margins of the General debate of the UN General Assembly, UN News spoke to UN Under-Secretary General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming, and from the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Sylvie Briand, Director of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases.   In a joint interview, they discussed how important it is for the UN to engage with the public, and… Read More

“They were fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, friends and colleagues,” he said in a statement on Monday.  Our world has reached an agonizing milestone: the loss of 1 million lives to #COVID19. We must never lose sight of each & every life. As the hunt for a vaccine — affordable and available to all — continues,… Read More