Today is World Diabetes Day, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is highlighting women’s right to a healthy future. The agency says there are some 422 million people living with diabetes, 205 million of whom are women. More than half are in the Western Pacific and South-east Asia regions.
In progress at UNHQ
Noon Briefings
This week is Antibiotic Awareness Week, and it kicks off today under the theme “Learn how to handle antibiotics with care”. The development of resistance is a big issue, and more information about can be found on the the World Health Organization’s website.
The United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and the Episcopal Conference of Colombia issued a joint press release highlighting the first month of ceasefire monitoring by the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN). The Mission has established 33 local or regional verification teams that are now operational.
An innovative debt-swap between the Russian Federation and Mozambique has unlocked $40 million, which will be used by World Food Programme (WFP) to provide school meals for 150,000 children in Mozambique over the next five years. The largest in WFP history, the debt-swap will free up new resources for development, as well as provide debt relief.
Among today’s highlights from the Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, were a pledge by HSBC Bank to mobilize $100 billion in sustainable financing and investment in support of the transition to a low-carbon economy and green growth around the world, and the release of a report by the European Union saying it is on track to meet its 2020 emissions-reduction target.
A joint study on food security released by the Government of South Sudan and humanitarian partners such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Food Programme, warns that the current harvest season will not end the hunger crisis in the country.
Some 4,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar and crossed the border into Bangladesh in the last 48 hours. The newly arrived refugees say thousands more people are waiting on Myanmar’s coast to make the crossing. United Nations agencies and their partners are providing food and other supplies.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed Myanmar’s commitment to implement recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, as the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported slower rates of refugees entering Bangladesh.
The Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, welcomed the full return of the Gaza crossings to the control of the Palestinian Authority. He said the return was a landmark development in the implementation of the intra-Palestinian agreement, signed in Cairo on 12 October.
The United Nations Environment Programme’s new Emission Gaps Report, which was released today, found that the national pledges made by countries in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change represent only one third of the action needed to meet climate targets and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.