Over 4000 people died from the disease last year, a 71 per cent increase compared to 2022. The number of reported cases also increased by 13 per cent. Cholera is an acute intestinal infection spread through contaminated food and water. While it is preventable and easily treatable, communities with limited access...
Though its current evaluation of the global public health risk is “low”, the UN health agency cautioned that with the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, the new variant “could increase” the burden of respiratory infections in many countries, noting other diseases such as RSV, influenza and childhood pneumonia...
Diabetes is a chronic disease which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. WHO said that more than 460 million people worldwide live with diabetes and millions more are at risk. The UN health agency stressed that...
The assessment by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) looks at preliminary socio-economic impacts, warning that poverty could spike while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could plummet by 8.4 per cent, which translates into a loss of $1.7 billion. Lamenting the loss...
Israeli settler violence has increased significantly, from an already high average of three incidents per day in 2023 to seven a day now, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA). During this period, OCHA recorded 171 settler attacks against Palestinians, resulting in 26 different casualty...
In his message marking the International Day against Nuclear Tests, Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for key countries to ratify the international treaty that bans experiments for both peaceful and military purposes. ‘Recipe for annihilation’ “This year, we face an alarming rise in global mistrust and division,” he said. “At a...
The UN agency has issued its latest Food Price Index (FPI), which tracks the monthly international prices of cereals, vegetable oil, dairy, meat and sugar. The Index averaged 123.9 points in July, up 1.3 per cent from June, driven by an increase in vegetable oil and rice prices. End of a lifeline FAO’s Vegetable Oil...
The UN agency added that there have been more than 2,500 severe violations of children’s rights – an average of more than one an hour – in a country where 14 million youngsters need aid relief. “As we reach more than 100 days since the conflict in Sudan escalated, we...
In an alert, the agency emphasized that heatwaves are amongst the deadliest natural hazards and WMO Senior Heat Advisor, John Nairn, told reporters that extreme temperatures are poised to grow in frequency, duration and intensity. “Repeated high night-time temperatures are particularly dangerous for human health because the body is unable...
Elizabeth Tan, UNHCR’s Director of International Protection said their first request was that countries allow civilians fleeing Sudan on “a non-discriminatory manner to access their territory”. She said this applied to Sudanese nationals, foreign nationals, and refugees who are being hosted in Sudan, “stateless persons, as well as those who...
WMO latest State of the Global Climate report shows that the last eight years were the eight warmest on record, and that sea level rise and ocean warming hit new highs. Record levels of greenhouse gases caused “planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean and in the atmosphere”. The...
In a report to the latest session of the Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, warned of an alarming increase in the use of “intrusive and high-risk technologies”, according to a press release issued by the UN...