This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

UN’s Guterres urges solutions to ‘vicious cycle of rising prices’

The impact of the war in Ukraine has been hugely damaging to global food security, energy and finance, and it’s speeding up.

That’s the message from UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who on Wednesday called for action to address lack of access to food this year, and a possible lack of food, full stop, next year.

With an additional 47 million people potentially facing severe food insecurity in 2023, Mr. Guterres renewed his call for the Russian invasion of Ukraine to end, to release food from the embattled country’s ports.

And despite the Russian aggression, the food and fertilizer that it also produces, must be made available to the world again, “despite the war’, the UN chief said.

To make this happen, Mr. Guterres has created a crisis response group on food, energy and finance, headed by top UN officials, trade chief Rebeca Grynspan, and relief chief Martin Griffiths.

In the past 10 days they have shuttled between Moscow, Kyiv, Ankara, Brussels and Washington, the UN chief said.

But he declined to offer further details, insisting that speculation could put at risk millions of people around the world.

Food exports must keep flowing worldwide, FAO chief urges

Staying with ongoing international efforts to address growing concerns over global food security linked to war in Ukraine, a top UN official on Wednesday urged countries not to impose restrictions on the export of foodstuffs that are in such short supply elsewhere.

“Food insecurity and high prices can become a trigger for instability,” said Qu Dongyu, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Addressing the Mediterranean Dialogue on Food Crisis conference in Rome, Mr. Qu insisted that “we must keep the global food trade system open and ensure that agrifood exports are not restricted or taxed”.

The Mediterranean Sea region includes 22 countries on three continents, many of which rely on cereal imports from Ukraine to feed their population, the FAO top official said.

Most countries in the region increased food imports to meet domestic consumption needs even prior to the war in Ukraine.

Monkeypox infections pass 1,000 mark in non-endemic countries: WHO

Monkeypox infections in non-endemic countries have passed the 1,000 mark and the risk of it now becoming established in some, is “real”, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

At a press conference in Geneva, Director-General of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that 29 countries where the virus does not usually circulate had confirmed cases of monkeypox.

Here’s WHO monkeypox expert, Dr Rosamund Lewis:

“The cases that are being reported now primarily in the non-endemic setting among men are still primarily of men who have sex with men. There are a few reports now of cases amongst women, not that many, and at the moment there is still a window of opportunity to prevent the onward spread of monkeypox in those who are at highest risk right now.”

The “sudden and unexpected” appearance of monkeypox in these countries suggests that it may have gone undetected for some time, Tedros said.

But he added that the virus could be prevented from establishing itself in non-endemic countries if those who became infected isolated themselves at home and avoided close contact with others.

So far this year, Africa – where it’s endemic - has seen more than 1,400 suspected cases of monkeypox and 56 people have died from it.

The disease has been responsible for deaths across Africa, for decades, Tedros said.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.