Some parts of Yemen are showing the highest rates of acute malnutrition among children under 5 ever recorded there, with more than half a million cases in southern districts, according to a food analysis released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Food Programme and partners.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
Honduras deposited the fiftieth instrument of ratification to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, resulting in it being entered into force in January 2021. The Secretary-General said the Treaty is a commitment towards the elimination of nuclear weapons, which is the Organization’s highest disarmament priority.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that following unprecedented floods in Sudan, affecting 875,000 people, a secondary health emergency has put 4.5 million at risk of vector-borne diseases. Efforts are now addressing supply needs, amid funding shortages in the Humanitarian Response Plan.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today said that the roll-out of newly approved antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 in Africa will significantly boost testing capacity and may become a game‑changer in the continent’s fight against the pandemic.
In South‑East Asia, severe, widespread flooding and landslides due to recent heavy rains have killed more than 100 people and displaced over 111,000, according to the United Nations, which is working with partners in Viet Nam to assess affected areas and support the Government’s aid response by providing food and other items.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today it has been laying the groundwork for the rapid, safe and efficient delivery of the eventual COVID-19 vaccine by stockpiling syringes and other necessary equipment, in anticipation of delivering 1 billion syringes to support vaccination efforts in 2021.
The fourth round of the Libyan 5+5 Joint Military Commission talks began at the Palais des Nations in Geneva this morning, with the participation of Stephanie Williams, Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya. The deliberations in this round will continue until 24 October.
The United Nations migration agency and the African Union launched their first‑ever report on African migration, showing that present-day African migration takes place mainly by land, not by sea, and that migrants’ destinations are overwhelmingly each other’s countries and not Europe or North America.
Although hand-washing with soap is critical to anti-coronavirus efforts, millions of people around the world lack ready access to a place to wash their hands, UNICEF) warned today, reporting that, according to the latest estimates, only three out of five people worldwide have basic hand-washing facilities.
Despite steady progress against tuberculosis in many countries before the COVID-19 pandemic — with a 9 per cent reduction in incidence and a 14 per cent drop in deaths between 2015 and 2019 — a World Health Organization report released today warns that global prevention and treatment targets are likely to be missed.