Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller, wrapping up a three-day visit to Madagascar, called for urgent action to tackle climate change, with increased investment to help address acute humanitarian needs, as well as their causes. Some 1.3 million people in Madagascar are severely food insecure.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
Two people have died, 2,000 people are displaced and an estimated 20,000 others are affected following recent heavy rains and flooding in south-western Libya, United Nations humanitarian officials report. The floods have caused houses to collapse, closed roads and interrupted communications and electricity networks.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today said that more than 5 million families across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean spend over 40 per cent of their non-food household expenses on maternal health services. The costs of prenatal care and delivery services can deter women from seeking medical attention.
The United Nations is supporting the Government of Mozambique, which beginning today is convening a pledging conference for recovery and reconstruction in the wake of the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclones Idai and Kenneth.
Amid the clashes in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, 149 vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers from Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, were safely evacuated today to Rome, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
World Health Organization experts arrived in Pakistan following an HIV outbreak in Sindh province, where some 600 cases — more than half of them children under age five — have been identified. The outbreak was first reported on 25 April, with a major HIV screening programme having started three days later.
A recent spike in clashes in north-western Nigeria has forced some 20,000 people to flee to neighbouring Niger since April, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today. UNHCR is working closely with authorities in Niger to provide basic assistance and register these people.
Due to sporadic rainfall in Bangladesh’s Teknaf peninsula, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and aid partners will truck water in the coming days to 140,000 Rohingya refugees, where water rationing due to limited supply has raised concern about the potential for water-borne diseases.
The United Nations is stepping up its response to the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is now in its tenth month and has claimed more than 1,200 lives. The Secretary-General has appointed David Gressly, Deputy Head of mission, as the Organization’s Emergency Ebola Response Coordinator.
Algeria and Argentina have been certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as being malaria-free. The head of WHO said today that the nations have eliminated malaria thanks to the unwavering commitment and perseverance of the people and leaders of both countries.