Cameroon


At the launch of the United Nations System Workplace Mental Health and Well-being Strategy, the Secretary-General highlighted the importance of ensuring the well-being of staff, many of whom work in increasingly dangerous environments, and the need to fight the stigma of talking about mental health issues in the workplace.

One week after the earthquake and tsunami that hit Central Sulawesi in Indonesia, the humanitarian country team has launched a $50 million response plan.  The United Nations resident coordinator there said the plan will provide immediate relief items, and the logistical support needed to provide aid to those in need.

Emergency fuel stocks at a number of critical health, water and sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip have almost run out, creating enormous risks for the population, according to United Nations humanitarian personnel.  The immediate lack of fuel is due to Israeli restrictions on imports, which also apply to United Nations‑procured emergency fuel.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that volcanic activity on Vanuatu’s Ambae Island, which has a population of more than 10,000 people, has intensified in the last few weeks.  The Vanuatu Council of Ministers has called for the immediate compulsory evacuation of Ambae residents to the neighbouring island of Maewo.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep alarm today at persistent reports of human rights violations and abuses in Cameroon’s English‑speaking north‑west and south‑west regions, as well as in the extreme north.  He said it is regrettable that the Government failed to grant the Human Rights Office access to the two regions despite repeated requests.

UNAIDS issued a stark wake‑up call today, saying time to reach the 2020 targets for HIV is running out.  New HIV infections are rising in some 50 countries, while AIDS-related deaths are not falling fast enough.  A new report has found that gains made for children are not being sustained, and new infections among them have declined only 8 per cent in the past two years.

In Syria, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is delivering United Nations humanitarian aid for more than 92,000 people to Talbiseh in northern rural Homs and Tlul Elhomor in southern Hama.  This is the first convoy to northern rural Homs since a convoy reached Dar al‑Kabira and surrounding areas on 4 March.