Today is World Diabetes Day, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is highlighting women’s right to a healthy future. The agency says there are some 422 million people living with diabetes, 205 million of whom are women. More than half are in the Western Pacific and South-east Asia regions.
In progress at UNHQ
Yemen
This week is Antibiotic Awareness Week, and it kicks off today under the theme “Learn how to handle antibiotics with care”. The development of resistance is a big issue, and more information about can be found on the the World Health Organization’s website.
The United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and the Episcopal Conference of Colombia issued a joint press release highlighting the first month of ceasefire monitoring by the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN). The Mission has established 33 local or regional verification teams that are now operational.
An innovative debt-swap between the Russian Federation and Mozambique has unlocked $40 million, which will be used by World Food Programme (WFP) to provide school meals for 150,000 children in Mozambique over the next five years. The largest in WFP history, the debt-swap will free up new resources for development, as well as provide debt relief.
Among today’s highlights from the Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, were a pledge by HSBC Bank to mobilize $100 billion in sustainable financing and investment in support of the transition to a low-carbon economy and green growth around the world, and the release of a report by the European Union saying it is on track to meet its 2020 emissions-reduction target.
A joint study on food security released by the Government of South Sudan and humanitarian partners such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Food Programme, warns that the current harvest season will not end the hunger crisis in the country.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned today that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a level not seen in 800,000 years, rising at record speed in 2016. The WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reported that globally averaged carbon dioxide concentrations reached 403.3 parts per million in 2016, up from 400 parts per million in 2015 due to human activities and a strong El Niño.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that civilians continue to flee their homes in northern Iraq, with at least 166,000 people currently displaced, the majority from Kirkuk. Aid workers are helping people in need where they have access, providing food, water, blankets and other supplies.
Humanitarian colleagues in Syria are deeply concerned about the situation for civilians in East Ghouta where children are reportedly suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The last United Nations inter-agency convoy reached the besieged enclave on 23 September with assistance for 25,000 people.
It will take more than 100 years to end child marriage in West and Central Africa at current rates of reduction, UNICEF reported today. The new projections, released during a high-level meeting on ending child marriage in Dakar, Senegal, this week, aim to bring the spotlight on the region where girls face the highest risk of marrying in childhood.