In progress at UNHQ

Central African Republic


Devastating flooding along the White Nile River has affected some 625,000 people in South Sudan since July, United Nations humanitarian officials in that country report.  The United Nations and partners are providing food, temporary shelter, fishing kits, water purification tablets, medicine and other supplies.

A survey by the United Nations Children’s Fund found that 535,500 children in Burkina Faso under five years old are acutely malnourished, including 156,000 who suffer from severe acute malnutrition and are at imminent risk of death.  Community health workers have been mobilized to screen and treat children in the most remote areas.

The COVID-19 pandemic will push 47 million more women and girls below the poverty line by 2021, reversing decades of progress to eradicate extreme poverty, according to new data released today by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

In Asia, a strong monsoon season has caused floods and landslides over the past week, killing hundreds of people, displacing millions and destroying infrastructure.  The United Nations and aid partners are supporting Government-led responses in several countries despite COVID-19-related logistical challenges.

There is a real danger that the global health crisis will create a COVID-19 generation who lose out on schooling and see their opportunities permanently damaged, warned Gordon Brown, Special Envoy on Global Education, noting that an estimated 30 million children may never return to school, according to UNESCO.

Thérèse Gastaut, a former Spokeswoman for the United Nations in Geneva, passed away last night.  She ably served the Organization for 37 years and held positions in the Department of Public Information in New York, Geneva and Brussels.  Thérèse had the United Nations in her blood and in her heart.