The United Nations refugee agency today welcomed El Salvador’s new law that will help protect internally displaced people. The legislation opens the doors for tens of thousands of victims of forced displacement in the country to gain access to life-saving humanitarian assistance and to have their basic rights restored.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
Food prices around the world are at their highest levels in five years, the food price index from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says. According to FAO, prices rose for the third consecutive month in December, with vegetable oil, sugar, dairy and cereals among the commodities driving up world food prices.
In Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, more than 4,000 people have died as a result of terrorist attacks in 2019, the head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel told members of the Security Council today. The number of displaced people has increased 10-fold to about half a million, he added.
The death toll from the measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has surpassed 6,000 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. The outbreak is currently the worst in the world.
Some 6.7 million people in Zimbabwe urgently need humanitarian aid as drought, crop failure, Cyclone Idai’s aftermath and macroeconomic challenges force many to spend at least 70 per cent of their disposable income on basic food, the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports.
In Nigeria, civilians were reportedly executed or abducted by armed groups in northern Borno state and on the Damaturu-Biu road yesterday. Condemning the violence, the United Nations and humanitarian partners have urged Nigerian authorities to prevent further violence and to protect the civilian population, including aid workers.
The World Health Organization announced today that Kenya, Mozambique and Niger have curbed polio outbreaks that erupted in different episodes over the last 24 months, allowing them to regain their polio-free status.
The United Nations and its partners launched a $34 million Flash Appeal to help 260,000 people facing food insecurity in Lesotho due to a severe drought. The Government declared a national disaster on 30 October. Between January and March, an estimated 71,000 people will be one step away from famine.
In Syria, the World Food Programme is now bringing aid to 1 million people per month through cross-border mechanisms. The situation in the north-west remains alarming, with families in Idlib burning tires and old clothes to stay warm, reports Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ursula Mueller.
Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) prequalified its first biosimilar medicine, Trastuzumab, that could broaden access to this life-saving breast cancer treatment. In 2018, 2.1 million women contracted breast cancer, and 630,000 of them died from it, many due to the lack of access to affordable treatment.