This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

New cancer prevention initiative launched

The World Health Organization-run International Agency for Research of Cancer (IARC), launched a new cancer prevention framework on Friday, designed to promote more effective prevention against the disease worldwide.

The initiative, timed to coincide with World Cancer Day, tackles what the agency describes as one of the most significant public health challenges of the 21st Century.

At least 40% of all cancer cases could be prevented with effective primary prevention measures, and further deaths could be reduced, through the early detection of tumours.

One in five people worldwide develop cancer during their lifetime, said the IARC. 

“Some risk factors are common worldwide”, said Dr. Carolina Espina, the IARC scientist who is leading the new World Code Against Cancer Framework project. 

However, certain infections are region-specific, and, more importantly, socioeconomic and cultural conditions, and access to effective cancer prevention interventions, vary across regions”, she explained.

She said regional codes would be developed, based on latest scientific evidence, to boost cancer prevention.

Ethiopia: UNHCR rushing aid to 20,000 refugees fleeing clashes

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and partners, are rushing life-saving aid to more than 20,000 refugees after they fled clashes in Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region, bordering Sudan and South Sudan.

Fighting broke out on 18 January in the town of Tongo – reportedly between unidentified armed groups and federal forces – and the nearby camp hosting 10,300 refugees was looted and burned.

This followed the looting of another camp in the area in late December.

All humanitarian staff had to evacuate, and access to the area including the two camps, remains impossible.

UNHCR is working with the Ethiopian Government’s Refugee and Returnees Service to provide urgent assistance to displaced refugees, including hot meals, clean water, and medical care.

New rural poverty database aims to boost global hunger fight

And finally, the majority of the world’s poor live in rural areas, but reliable information on exact numbers and conditions, is difficult to come by.

To help improve data and combat global hunger more effectively, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a report on Friday in collaboration with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, introducing an innovative new Rural Multidimensional Poverty Index.

The database will broaden existing methods for measuring rural poverty by taking a closer look at food security, nutrition, education, and living standards.

It will also include new data on access - or the lack of it - to farm tools, and detail on environmental risks, together with access to social protection.   

Matt Wells, UN News.