Billions globally lack ‘water, sanitation and hygiene’, new UN report spells out

17 June 2019
Health
UNICEF/Sri Kolari

Some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely-managed drinking water, while 4.2 billion go without safe sanitation services and three billion lack basic handwashing facilities, according to a new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Monday’s News Brief: World population, Desertification Day, ocean protection, Nigeria, Yemen and Gaza

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UN News/Daniel Dickinson

24 billion tons of fertile land lost every year, warns UN chief on World Day to Combat Desertification

Climate Change

In a video message released in advance of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marked on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world loses 24 billion tons of fertile land every year, and that the degradation in land quality is responsible for a reduction in the national domestic product of up to eight per cent every year.

UNICEF/Arcos

Record number of Venezuelans arrive in Peru: UN steps up response

Migrants and Refugees

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has sent extra teams this week to the border between Peru and Ecuador to support the authorities, as an unprecedent number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants – over 15,000 – have entered Peru this week.

Photo: TASS/UN DPI

UN chief condemns terrorist attacks in Kenya and Somalia

Peace and Security

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, on Sunday condemned an attack that took place on Saturday in Wajir County, Kenya, in which at least eight police officers were killed when their car struck an improvised explosive device (IED), as well as a car bomb attack in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in which at least eight people were killed. 

IFAD/Christine Nesbitt

Remittances matter: 8 facts you don’t know about the money migrants send back home

Economic Development

This Sunday marks the second International Day of Family Remittances, observed every year on 16 June, in recognition of the fundamental contribution of migrant workers to their families and communities back home.

IOM/Jorge Gallindo.

Shining a light on sustainable power: how clean energy is helping to improve camps for displaced people

Climate Change

Hauwa, from Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, fled her home village of Adamari with her husband and four children in March, when violence struck. Now, she is in the relative safety of a UN-run camp but, with little electricity available at night, lighting is scarce, and darkness can mean danger. However, thanks to a solar-energy initiative from the UN migration agency IOM, that is beginning to change.

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