The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced today it has been laying the groundwork for the rapid, safe and efficient delivery of the eventual COVID-19 vaccine by stockpiling syringes and other necessary equipment, in anticipation of delivering 1 billion syringes to support vaccination efforts in 2021.
Refugees
Marking International Day of the Girl, Zimbabwe Resident Coordinator Maria Ribeiro called for the protection of girls who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 compared to boys. Girls in Zimbabwe also face myriad challenges, including fewer opportunities in education and, for females under 24, a third of maternal deaths.
Mayerlín Vergara Pérez from Colombia is the 2020 laureate of the Nansen Refugee Award, the UN refugee agency announced today. The Caribbean Regional Coordinator for the Renacer Foundation has spent more than two decades helping the non-profit pursue eradication of sexual exploitation and abuse of children and adolescents.
A record 13.4 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali and western Niger need humanitarian assistance and protection, as fast-growing crises spread across the Central Sahel region. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the number of internally displaced people has grown 20-fold to 1.4 million in less than two years.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are helping the Government of Cambodia with distance learning programmes for the more than 3 million students who are out of school due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The United Nations and humanitarian partners today released a tri-national action plan seeking $10.4 million to support Government responses over the next year to urgent needs in the border area between Colombia, Peru and Brazil, which currently has the world’s highest COVID-19 mortality rates per 100,000 people.
In Yemen, the United Nations and its aid partners report they have distributed emergency food, hygiene kits and other essential items to over 7,600 families impacted by deadly floods and torrential rains that destroyed homes, crops and livestock in July and August. An estimated 62,000 families have been affected.
A group of regional United Nations entities launched a $2.5 million recovery fund to support Mauritius as it responds to the oil spill caused by a shipwreck off its coast in July, with efforts focused on the livelihoods impacted. United Nations regional directors for eastern and southern Africa have pooled $250,000 to kick-start the fund.
In Asia, a strong monsoon season has caused floods and landslides over the past week, killing hundreds of people, displacing millions and destroying infrastructure. The United Nations and aid partners are supporting Government-led responses in several countries despite COVID-19-related logistical challenges.
There is a real danger that the global health crisis will create a COVID-19 generation who lose out on schooling and see their opportunities permanently damaged, warned Gordon Brown, Special Envoy on Global Education, noting that an estimated 30 million children may never return to school, according to UNESCO.