This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
Seven in 10 African nations to miss COVID-19 vaccination targets: WHO
Nearly seven in 10 African countries are not on course to reach the 10 per cent COVID-19 vaccination target by the end of September, a senior official from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, also warned that Africa’s third wave of surging coronavirus infections was “absolutely not over”.
Many countries were “still at peak risk”, Dr Moeti said, adding that this week’s Eid celebrations may result in a rise in cases.
Latest data from the UN health agency indicates a small drop in infections in Africa after an eight-week surge, but this is only because of a sharp decrease in South Africa, which accounts for the bulk of the continent’s reported cases.
More than 20 African countries have seen cases rise by more than 20 per cent for at least two weeks in a row and the Delta variant has been found in 26 nations on the continent.
Around 3.5 to four million doses of COVID-19 vaccine are administered weekly in Africa, but to meet the September target of protecting 10 per cent of the population, this needs to rise to 21 million doses each week “at the very least”, WHO said.
FAO head urges G20 to invest in a healthy planet for healthy food
A call to the world’s richest nations now to invest more in sustainable living to feed the world’s growing population, from the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO.
In his appeal on Thursday to G20 environment ministers, Qu Dongyu highlighted the challenge of having to produce more food while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The FAO chief backed better water management measures to address water scarcity, which affects more than a billion people.
Almost a billion hectares of rain-fed cropland and pastureland are also severely affected by recurring drought, said Mr. Qu, who insisted that these water-related challenges could be addressed with digital innovation, better oversight and investment.
The FAO Director-General also called for greater efforts to slow biodiversity loss.
Reversing deforestation “will help mitigate against climate change and reduce the risk of future” disease outbreaks passing from animals to humans, said Mr. Qu, adding that the economic benefits of halting biodiversity loss and land degradation could amount to $1.4 trillion per year.
Togo joins international pledge to end statelessness
It’s been 60 years since the 1961 Convention to reduce statelessness and on Thursday, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, welcomed Togo’s decision to join international efforts to tackle the causes of the problem.
Head of UNHCR, Filippo Grandi, hailed the move, noting that it built on “the great momentum in West Africa’s fight against statelessness”.
In Togo, the development is in line with ongoing reforms to the country’s nationality code, to give equal rights to women.
Statelessness describes people who are not recognized as citizens by any country.
It is a global phenomenon that affects millions of people, leaving them marginalized and highly vulnerable.
There are at least 1.6 million stateless people across West Africa, UNHCR said, adding that worldwide, an estimated 4.2 million live in more than 90 countries.
Given that most countries do not collect any data on statelessness, the actual figure is believed to be substantially higher.
Daniel Johnson, UN News.
