Yemen

The World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Global Vaccine Alliance and the Sudanese Ministry of Health today launched a vaccination campaign in Sudan to vaccinate over 11 million children against measles and polio.  Measles is the third largest cause of mortality in infants in Sudan.

In response to Cyclone Idai, the first of three planes carrying relief items from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) landed today in Mozambique; supplies are to be distributed to 30,000 people there and in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned about armed clashes in the southern Philippines between the army and non-State armed groups that have uprooted more than 47,000 people.  The United Nations and humanitarian partners are helping the Government deliver aid to nearly 35,000 displaced people.

UNAIDS is concerned that new HIV infections are not declining among people who inject drugs, despite a decline in new infections globally.  A new report also shows that 99 per cent of them live in countries lacking adequate needle and syringe programmes, drug-dependency treatment, and HIV testing and treatment.

A measles outbreak continues to surge in the Philippines, where the Government is conducting a mass immunization campaign with assistance from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).  At least 280 deaths have been reported since the beginning of the year.

A new ILO report finds that women in 2018 were 26 percentage points less likely to be employed than men, despite 70 per cent of women saying they would rather be employed than stay at home.  This marks an improvement of only two percentage points in closing the work-gender gap over nearly three decades.

To assist 2.3 million people in Mali, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners today launched the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan requesting $296 million.  The situation there has deteriorated in recent years due to increased conflict and intercommunal clashes, as well as a high level of food insecurity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that $148 million is urgently needed to continue the response to the unprecedented Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or risk backsliding.  Less than $10 million of the required funds have been pledged so far.

The Security Council today authorized a one-year extension of the financial and travel bans that have been in place since February 2014 against individuals or entities threatening the peace, security and stability of Yemen.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the pledging conference for Yemen, in Geneva today: