General News

More than 70,000 unregistered babies born during the deadly Ebola outbreak in Liberia will receive birth certificates thanks to a national registration drive supported by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The new identity documents will make it easier for the children to obtain basic health and social services, and reduce their risk of being trafficked or illegally adopted.

That’s according to Deirdre Kiernan, UNICEF Acting Representative and Senior Emergency Coordinator in Liberia.

“Considerable progress” has been made in combating the deadly Ebola disease in West Africa but the UN remains steadfast in its commitment to getting to zero cases.

That’s according to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who officially closed the UN’s emergency response mission in the region, UNMEER, on Friday.

More than 11,000 people died in the three most badly affected countries; Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Crop yields in Africa could be increased by up to 500 per cent if farmers use what’s been called an eco-system based or EBA approach to agriculture; that’s according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

EBA promotes the sustainable use of land and discourages deforestation and the overuse of fertilisers to increase yields.

UNEP is advocating EBA in response to the twin challenges facing Africa; adapting to climate change and an increase in population.

Life-saving equipment and medical supplies from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) are arriving in Yemen to help pregnant women in the war-torn country deliver their babies safely.

An estimated 470,000 women trapped by the conflict are pregnant and 70,000 of them may experience complications such as infection, miscarriage, abortion as well as rape over the next ninth months.

That’s according to Himyar Abdulmoghni, UNFPA’s assistant representative in Yemen.

Encouraging Afghan women to join the peace process requires safer work conditions and an equal right to participate in political issues.

That’s according to Huma Khan who is part of the gender equality team at the UN mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA.

Civil rights advocates have been meeting in the capital, Kabul, to discuss a range of issues that have been impacting women since the peace process began 13 years ago.

The big issues facing small island developing states (SIDS) were the focus of debate in the UN Security Council on Thursday.

These challenges include tackling climate change, combatting transnational organized crime and meeting development goals.

Although they comprise less than 40 countries, SIDS span from the Caribbean to Africa and the Pacific. They are also located in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

Dianne Penn reports.

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Lured by promises of education and health care, families affected by the earthquake in Nepal are unknowingly sending their children to facilities which exploit them.

Youths are also being lured by traffickers who offer fake opportunities to work abroad.

That’s according to Virginia Perez, Chief of Child Protection in Nepal for the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.

UNICEF is working with local police to intercept young people and return them to their families.

Economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean will average out at half a per cent in 2015, according to  the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Growth is expected in Central America and Mexico as well as the Caribbean but economies are expected to contract in South America.

The economic slowdown is due to external and domestic factors; the global economy’s slow growth during 2015 and lower investment rates in individual countries.

A medical student from Thailand who’s studying at a university in China says the only way to understand another culture is through its language.

Siwathep Singh Khanderpor, known as “Thep,” is living proof of his mother’s belief that if you speak one language, you’re one person, but if you speak more than one language, then you’re multi-faceted.

Thep was one of the winners of a UN-backed international essay contest promoting multilingualism.

Somalia’s economy is on track to grow 2.7 per cent in 2015, according to the first review of the nation’s economic well-being in 26 years.

The review by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) describes the progress the Horn of Africa country has made towards rebuilding its institutions and restoring normalcy after more than two decades of civil war and recurrent droughts.

Widespread poverty, gender disparities and low life expectancy, however, remain challenges.