A growing number of districts in Yemen are at risk of famine as the situation rapidly deteriorates, aggravated by protracted conflict, limited imports of essential commodities necessary for basic survival, lack of salaries and collapsing health, water and sanitation services, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports.
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Some 350,000 children remain in need of support across the Caribbean three months after hurricanes Irma and Maria barrelled through the region, UNICEF reported today. More than 35 per cent of children in Dominica - particularly those in shelters - are yet to be enrolled in education activities, and many children and families in Antigua and Barbuda remain unable to return home.
Today in Geneva, the 2018-2019 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan concerning Syria was launched - an interagency, $4.4 billion plan designed to support over five million refugees from Syria and the vulnerable communities hosting them in the neighbouring countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan dispatched a patrol to Abier, Cuei-Cok and Abiriu, in the northwest of Lakes region, on 9 December following an attack by armed youth last week in which more than 60 people were killed and 70 injured. During the patrol, the Mission interviewed witnesses, visited the wounded and cautioned against retaliatory attacks.
At the annual Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) Pledging Conference, the Secretary-General called for a $1 billion CERF to help bolster contingency financing, noting that, since 2005, humanitarian needs have increased from $5.2 billion to over $24 billion today, with more people than ever on the brink of disaster.
The number of people affected by dementia is set to triple in the next 30 years, from 50 million to 152 million by 2050, the World Health Organization reported. The $818 billion annual cost of dementia, equivalent to more than 1 per cent of global gross domestic product, is expected to reach $2 trillion by 2030.
The Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen briefed the Security Council, warning of alarming levels of violence affecting civilians and emphasizing an acute need for a negotiated settlement and inclusive peace process at a time of sharply shifting political dynamics following the killing of the former President.
The Secretary-General, in a message to the United Nations Environment Assembly opening in Nairobi today, said that solutions to prevent, mitigate and manage pollution existed, and that beating pollution would help reduce poverty, improve health, create decent jobs, address climate change and protect life on earth and sea.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has reported that refugees fleeing militia violence in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and arriving in Zambia have crossed the 12,000 mark, with 80 per cent of them women and children, driven out by extreme brutality of rampaging militias.
UNICEF released a report today that calls on world leaders to include specific commitments to protect uprooted children when drafting global migration policies. The call precedes the preparatory meeting on the Global Compact for Migration, to be held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, from 4 to 6 December. The report is available online.