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News in Brief 17 June 2022

News in Brief 17 June 2022

This is the News in Brief, from the United Nations.

Urgent support needed for 14,000 who fled following Burkina Faso massacre

In Burkina Faso, UN humanitarians have appealed to the international community for help, after attacks by armed groups forced thousands to flee their homes in the east of the country.

UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday that almost 16,000 mostly women and children, had been displaced to Dori, after gunmen killed at least 79 people in the town of Seytenga, close to the border with Niger.

UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said that hundreds of people have had no option but to sleep rough by the road, until shelter is found:

“The new arrivals in Dori gave accounts of armed men going door-to-door to seek out and kill adult males, meaning that many witnessed the deaths of their husbands or fathers. Almost two-thirds of those who fled Seytenga are under 18.”

More Burkinabe are expected to arrive in Dori in the coming days, while some 15,500 are already sheltering across the border in Niger’s Tillabéri region, where resources are scant.

With the Burkinabe authorities, UNHCR and partners are already offering help. The most urgent needs include shelter and essential items, as well as water, sanitation and hygiene services, and psychosocial support.

Nearly one billion people have a mental disorder: WHO

Nearly one billion people all over the world have a mental disorder – that’s according to latest data from 2019 – and that staggering figure is even more worrying, if you consider that it includes around one in seven teenagers.

To make matters worse, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of common conditions such as depression and anxiety went up by more than 25 per cent, the UN health agency said on Friday.

In its largest review of mental health since the turn of the century, the World Health Organization (WHO), has urged more countries to tackle the problem.

It’s offered examples of good practice that should be implemented as quickly as possible, in recognition of the important role that mental health plays in positive and sustainable development.

Even before the coronavirus hit, only a small fraction of people in need of help had access to effective, affordable and quality mental health care, WHO said.

For example, more than 70 per cent of those suffering from psychosis worldwide, do not get the help they need.

Early heatwave in Europe is taste of things to come

Sweltering conditions in Europe have come earlier than expected this year but the bad news is that they’re the shape of things to come.

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the intense heatwave made its way from North Africa.

The UN agency explained on Friday that an Atlantic low-pressure system between the Azores and Madeira, is fuelling the warm front, pushing it into western Europe.

And although it’s only mid-June, temperatures in some parts of the continent are more than 10 degrees Celsius (or 50 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average, for this time of year.

In France, the heat spike follows the country’s warmest and driest May on record, and the country’s national weather agency said that it is the earliest heatwave since 1947.

And in Spain, temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius – 104 Fahrenheit - in parts of the country’s interior on consecutive days this week, and it’s been hotter still in Toledo province in recent days.

Here’s WMO spokesperson, Clare Nullis:

“Nearly the entire country of Spain, it's a big red map today, faces an extreme fire risk. So, our message to Spanish audiences, please, please, please heed all the warnings. There is extreme fire danger today.”

In Switzerland, where maximum temperatures have been well above 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), the national weather service issued findings showing that the temperature difference between towns and the countryside was as much as six degrees Celsius.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.

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  • Urgent support needed for 14,000 who fled following Burkina Faso massacre

  • Nearly one billion people have a mental disorder: WHO

  • Early heatwave in Europe is taste of things to come

Audio Credit
Daniel Johnson, UN News - Geneva
Audio Duration
2'1"
Photo Credit
© WFP/Cheick Omar Bandaogo