Mozambique floods heighten disease, malnutrition risks – UN agencies

The head of aid coordination office, OCHA, in the country, Paola Emerson, told reporters in Geneva that more than half a million people have been impacted by the floods, triggered by heavy rains in the first weeks of the new year. “The numbers keep rising as extensive flooding continues and dams keep releasing water to […]

Sudan gripped by deadly crisis as hunger, disease and heat intensify

Sudan gripped by deadly crisis as hunger, disease and heat intensify

In El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur that has been under siege for 15 months, the catastrophic humanitarian situation is worsening. Food shortages and soaring prices have forced community-run kitchens to shut down. Widespread hunger and malnutrition have reportedly caused several deaths and driven some residents to eat animal feed. In the Tawila locality […]

UN warns of worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan as displacement, hunger and disease escalate

UN warns of worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan as displacement, hunger and disease escalate

The situation is particularly dire in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, which has witnessed some of the worst episodes of the ongoing conflict between rival militaries. Those remaining in El Fasher are facing “extreme shortages” of food and clean water, with markets repeatedly disrupted, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists at the […]

FAO calls for action amid foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks

FAO calls for action amid foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and various wild species.  Europe is currently facing its worst outbreak so far this century at the same time as an exotic viral strain has been introduced in Iraq and other countries in the Near East. Concern for potential spread […]

Destitution and disease stalk Myanmar’s quake survivors

Destitution and disease stalk Myanmar’s quake survivors

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) is just one of the UN agencies working to help the most vulnerable in worst-hit central areas, but much more help is needed. “When it rains, they can’t sleep, and when the rain stops, they still can’t sleep because they feared the wind might have their only shelter away,” […]

‘Increased risk’ donor organs a tough sell to transplant patients

‘Increased risk’ donor organs a tough sell to transplant patients

Increasingly, transplant surgeons must initiate a tough conversation: explaining to patients what it means to accept an organ from a person who died from a drug overdose. Organ donors who recently injected drugs, as well those who were incarcerated or had sex for drugs or money, are among a growing group of people classified as […]