In Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that new strikes across the country over the weekend left hundreds of thousands of people in Kharkiv, Odesa and Kryvyi Rih without electricity and heat.
Ecuador
The Commissioner General of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reports that makeshift structures of plastic sheeting have mushroomed everywhere around Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, as people are displaced by the hostilities.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) officially confirmed in a statement today that 2023 was the warmest year on record — by a huge margin — as the annual average global temperature approached 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. WMO will issue its final “State of the Global Climate” report for 2023 in March.
One in three Afghans do not know where their next meal will come from as communities brace for a harsh winter, the World Food Programme warns. The agency can only reach the most desperate families due to a huge funding shortfall and urgently needs $670 million to reach 15.2 million people.
The new Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations, José Javier De la Gasca Lopez Domínguez, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
Peacekeepers from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo stopped an attack by CODECO elements on Jissa village in Ituri province. The assailants, who earlier burned homes and made civilians flee, fled upon the arrival of the peacekeepers.
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:
The World Health Organization (WHO) will convene its first-ever global summit on ways to scale up scientific advances and realize evidence-based knowledge in the use of traditional medicine, which can play an important and catalytic role in achieving the goal of universal health coverage.
Wrapping up her visit, Bintou Keita, Head of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, met with representatives of displaced communities, civil society and the local community in Bukavu, South Kivu, to discuss ways to strengthen partnerships to support provincial peace and security efforts.
In Lebanon, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) donated 1,000 cholera testing kits, administered over 900,000 oral cholera vaccines and provided refrigerators and solar panels to ensure continuous access to electricity in support of the Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to combat the cholera outbreak which began in October.