#COVID-19

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks, as delivered, to the Security Council open meeting:  “Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines in contexts affected by conflict and insecurity”, today:

In north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Nations vaccination teams are supporting the Ebola response by rehabilitating treatment centres and boosting contact-tracing capacity, and today began a four-day mission to Guinea to assess the situation in Nzérékoré, where the first Ebola case was reported.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the round table hosted by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development titled “Rebuild, Boost, and Transform:  Gender approaches for an inclusive COVID-19 recovery”, today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the G5 Sahel Summit today:

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today launched the Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative, with 15 leading airlines supporting the prioritization of the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines and other critical supplies.

The period following the start of Afghanistan’s peace negotiations in September 2020 has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of human rights defenders and media professionals killed in the country, a new report issued today by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says.

Humanitarian officials are seriously concerned about the rapidly deteriorating food security situation in southern and eastern Madagascar, where more than 1.3 million people face severe hunger.  The third drought in a row is compounding the effects of COVID-19 and the extremely limited access to essential services.

Acting unanimously today, the General Assembly decided on an exceptional basis to provide Angola — which had stood poised to graduate from the United Nations list of least developed countries — with an additional preparatory period of three years, in light of socioeconomic vulnerabilities exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has asked for $1.5 billion to fund its education, health, social services, infrastructure and other essential services, as well as emergency appeals and priority projects for 2021.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the virtual conference “Roadmap for Recovery:  Business and the Sustainable Development Goals”, held today: