Interviews

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced vaccinations against the latest deadly Ebola Virus outbreak in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), will begin on Wednesday. 

This follows confirmation that the virus shares the same Zaire strain as the most recent outbreak, in the Equateur Province, on the other side of the country.

UN News’s Daniel Johnson spoke with WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic.

An agreement signed by the main rivals in South Sudan’s ongoing conflict has been hailed by the United Nations Secretary-General as “an important step” towards ending the crisis there.

António Guterres has reaffirmed the Organization’s commitment to support the achievement of a fair and sustainable peace agreement for the country.

Over a year after cholera broke out in Yemen, killing more than 2,000 people, the disease is back and spreading fast.

Once more, the key port city of Hudaydah — held by the Houthis, and the target of continued air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition to regain control of the city — is facing a deadly outbreak.

To mitigate the risks, the Ministry of Health and the UN launched a week-long cholera oral vaccination campaign to target the most vulnerable last Saturday.

With a gradual return of better economic conditions and a generation of children growing up without the horrors of conflict, there is a “good buzz” in southern Lebanon, says the UN mission’s Force Commander there, adding that the international community must “stay invested”.

Damage to the civilian infrastructure in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah could “jeopardize everything” relief operations are trying to do, said the UN humanitarian coordinator for the country on Wednesday.

Millions of women, children and men worldwide are at risk of acute hunger in countries affected by natural disasters and conflict, according the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Unfortunately, many of these crisis-affected countries are forgotten and being neglected by the international community and the humanitarian responses there face critical levels of underfunding for food and agriculture assistance.

Breastfeeding in the first hour after birth “is critical for saving newborn lives” said the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Tuesday, although 78 million babies each year are still missing out.

Just over a quarter of people trafficked worldwide are children, according to latest figures from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Marking the 2018 World Day against Trafficking in Persons this Monday, the UN drugs and crime-fighting agency, UNODC, is highlighting the urgency of acting “as soon as possible” to prevent a crime that claims more than 20,000 identified victims each year; a number that represents the “tip of the iceberg”, with many still unaccounted for.

Despite a diminishing budget and rising casualties among ‘blue helmets’, peacekeeping remains “a very important tool” in the promotion of peace and stability, according to the United Nations peacekeeping chief.

In Lao People’s Democratic Republic, commonly known as Laos, the UN is involved in an emergency relief operation after a huge dam breach on Monday released floodwater that destroyed entire villages.

According to IOM, the UN Migration Agency, people fled the disaster with nothing.

Speaking from Bangkok, the agency’s Chris Lom, told UN News’s Daniel Johnson how the agency aims to help in the worst-affected areas.