This is occurring as the risk from pandemics, drug-resistant infections and fragile health services are on the rise, said the WHO Director-General. Addressing the WHO Executive Board in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed the impact of workforce reductions last year due to “significant cuts to our funding,” which have had significant consequences. “Sudden and severe […]
They include attacks in Odesa region on Wednesday that killed a 17-year-old boy, according to UN child rights agency UNICEF which called for an “end to attacks on civilian areas and the infrastructure children rely on.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that attacks on the southeastern city of Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday had recommenced on Thursday. Aid deliveries “Teams delivered shelter […]
According to the latest UN-backed IPC Food Security Phase Classification report, around 874,000 people are facing crisis or emergency levels of acute food insecurity between November 2025 and March 2026. Certain districts and areas have been more severely affected, particularly parts of Baalbek and El Hermel, Akkar, Baabda, Zahle, Saida, Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun, El Nabatieh, Tyre, […]
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) issued the warning on Friday, citing latest analysis from the food security framework Cadre Harmonisé, the regional equivalent of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) that uses a one to five scale – with five spelling catastrophe/famine – to inform response. It projects that 13 million children are also expected to suffer from malnutrition this year while over three million people will […]
In a statement released by his Spokesperson, the UN chief noted that the disaster driven by severe monsoon conditions had been exacerbated by climate change, impacting around 1.5 million people. Hundreds of thousands of people need humanitarian aid while more than 3,000 homes, over 400 schools and some 40 health facilities have suffered some level […]
Official Development Assistance (ODA) for education is projected to fall by $3.2 billion – a 24 per cent drop from 2023 – with just three donor governments accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the cuts. Such a decline would push the number of out-of-school children worldwide from 272 million to 278 million, UNICEF said […]
In an alert from the World Food Programme (WFP), the agency said that half a million people “are on the brink of famine”, a claim backed up by multiple humanitarian agencies. The latest worrying data is showing widespread acute malnutrition. A ceasefire is the only way to scale up aid deliveries, the UN agency insisted. It explained […]
Globally, $1.4 billion of the agency’s programmes are being shuttered or put on hold, UNHCR said in a new report. “We can’t stop water, you can’t stop sanitation, but we’re having to take decisions when it comes, for example, to shelter,” said UNHCR Director of External Relations, Dominique Hyde. “We’re have people arriving on a […]
Ongoing violence is compounding the country’s food crisis, disrupting local food production in critical areas such as the commune of Kenscoff and the Artibonite department, often considered the breadbaskets of Haiti. While the UN and its partners are responding “wherever and whenever possible,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said this Wednesday that humanitarians have only been […]
This will entail cutting just under half of all senior positions at the agency’s Geneva headquarters and regional bureaux. Around 3,500 permanent staff posts have been discontinued, hundreds of temporary staff positions have been terminated, and some offices have been downsized or closed worldwide. According to the report, decisions on where to cut costs were […]
“We have been forced into a triage of human survival,” said Mr. Fletcher. “The math is cruel, and the consequences are heartbreaking. Too many people will not get the support they need, but we will save as many lives as we can with the resources we are given.” New priorities The appeal aims to reprioritise […]
More than 30 million people are receiving lifesaving treatment worldwide however, making the UN’s AIDS response a “clear example of a multilateral success,” said Amina Mohammed, UN Under Secretary-General on Thursday, as the General Assembly reviewed progress being made to end AIDS and prevent HIV infections. ‘Series of threats’ “Global commitment is fading. Funding is falling. […]
Many women came to the clinic who had walked multiple hours to receive maternal care – some of them with their newborns and some heavily pregnant. And then there were the health workers themselves, committed to serving those in need in hard-to-reach areas of the impoverished Taliban-controlled nation. ‘Off the radar’ These were some of […]
Addressing the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial 2025 in the German capital, the Secretary-General told dozens of ministers from more than 130 countries that peacekeepers remain key to “help countries move from conflict to peace.” “In trouble spots around the world, blue helmets can mean the difference between life and death,” he insisted. “They are also a clear demonstration […]
But despite their critical role, UN support for midwifery is under serious threat due to severe funding cuts. Each year, three-quarters of all maternal deaths occur in just 25 countries, the majority of them located in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, according to the UN reproductive health agency, UNFPA. Midwives are often the first and […]
“We are living through the greatest disruption to global health financing in memory,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He cautioned that abrupt withdrawals of funding are jeopardising hard-won medical progress, including efforts to combat tropical diseases, which are now re-emerging in some regions. “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he told […]
“Cutting funding for those in greatest need is not something to boast about…the impact of aid cuts is that millions die,” warned Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher. Speaking from an overcrowded hospital in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan where three or four patients have to share a bed, Mr. Fletcher warned that the financial crisis has […]
Cuts to global health funding are leading to a rise in outbreaks of diseases that vaccines had nearly wiped out, the UN health agency, WHO, is warning on Thursday. In Africa’s “meningitis belt”, which spans parts of sub-Saharan Africa, vaccination campaigns had successfully eliminated meningitis A. Similarly, improved routine immunization and emergency vaccine stockpiles drastically […]