Health

United Nations officials in the Central African Republic report that 300 peacekeepers have been deployed to Bakouma, one of several places where security concerns prevented the holding of elections in 2020.  They will protect the civilian population and help organize legislative elections later in May.

The United Nations team in Madagascar is helping authorities to address record-high food insecurity and surging severe acute malnutrition caused by droughts, sandstorms and caterpillar plagues in the south of the island.  Authorities and the United Nations launched a flash appeal in January for nearly $76 million.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, with support from the World Health Organization and other partners, has launched a yellow fever vaccination campaign targeting more than 16.3 million people in the country, the first such drive against the disease in Africa this year.

Progress in protecting the world’s forests — and the people who rely on them — is at risk due to the devastating impacts of the coronavirus and the escalating climate and biodiversity crises, according to a new report released today by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator one-year anniversary event, held today:

United Nations staff report that, despite recent improvements in humanitarian access, the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray remains alarming, with conflict in some areas restricting humanitarian movement and response.  Insecurity in Tigray’s east zone last week reportedly impacted the movement of more than 20 relief trucks.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for World Malaria Day, observed on 25 April:

With the number of new COVID-19 cases around the world nearly doubling over the past two months — approaching the highest infection rate observed during the pandemic — the unequal distribution of vaccines is not only a moral outrage, but economically and epidemiologically self-defeating, the head of the United Nations health agency told a special ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social Council today.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message to the Japan Institute of International Affairs/UNIC Tokyo/Ministry of Foreign Affairs Event — “The Significance of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Today’s World from the SDGs Viewpoint and the Role of the United Nations” — today:

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that shelling yesterday damaged a power line near a main lift pumping station of the South Donbas Waterway in eastern Ukraine.  It interrupted safe water supply for 1.1 million people in 50 nearby settlements on both sides of the “contact line”.