Global

A pregnant woman receives antenatal care from a UNFPA-supported programme in Santa Cruz do Arari, Pará, Brazil.
© UNFPA Brazil

Decades of health gains at risk in Brazil due to COVID-19

30 April 2021
Health

Although COVID-19 cases are declining in Brazil, the pandemic is putting decades of public health gains there at risk, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. 

A man is tested for HIV at a health centre in Odienné, Côte d’Ivoire.
© UNICEF/Frank Dejongh

Address inequalities to end AIDS by 2030, UN chief says in new report

30 April 2021
Health

Inequalities in addressing AIDS threaten global efforts to stamp out the disease as a public health threat by 2030, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned in a report published on Friday, which provides 10 key recommendations to get the world back on track.

Simon Gronowski plays the piano for passers-by from his home in Brussels, Belgium.
© Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Feeling kind of blue? Holocaust survivor lifts lockdown spirits through jazz

30 April 2021
Culture and Education

An 89-year-old pianist who escaped the Holocaust in Nazi Germany almost eight decades ago, has been explaining how he started playing jazz in memory of his sister, and has kept going through the COVID-19 lockdown, playing from the window of his Brussels home “to give people courage.”

Babies at a neonatal intensive unit at a hospital in Kampala, Uganda, which was refurbished with support from UNFPA.
UNICEF/Catherine Ntabadde

UK’s 85% family planning aid cut will be devastating for women and girls says UNFPA, while UNAIDS also 'deeply regrets' cuts

29 April 2021
Women

The United Kingdom’s intention to cut 85 per cent of its contribution to a flagship UN family planning programme this year, will have devastating consequences for women and girls and their families across the world, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) said on Thursday.

A female UN peacekeeper interacts with a local woman in the Ménaka region of Mali.
MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko

More uniformed women in peace operations, ‘key priority’

28 April 2021
Women

Increasing the participation of uniformed women in peace operations is a “key priority” for the United Nations, the head of peacekeeping told a High-Level Launch Event on Wednesday.

Journalists gather at an event in Moldova, in eastern Europe.
© UNICEF Moldova

Pandemic cannot become a ‘media extinction event’: UN Secretary-General

28 April 2021
Culture and Education

The financial decline of many public interest media organizations worldwide has been among the dangerous side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in remarks to a UN-backed event to boost support for the sector. 

India has been hit with a second wave of COVID-19. (file)
© UNICEF/Vinay Panjwani

COVID-19 cases rise for ninth consecutive week, variants continue spreading 

28 April 2021
Health

COVID-19 infections have increased for the ninth consecutive week globally while variants continue their spread, the UN health agency has confirmed. 

A screenshot of Maria Ressa during a UNESCO online dialogue on press freedom in 2020.
UNESCO

Filipino investigative journalist to receive UN press freedom prize

28 April 2021
Human Rights

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Tuesday named investigative journalist and media executive Maria Ressa of the Philippines as the recipient of its 2021 press freedom award.

On 14 April 2020 in Yerevan in Armenia, Danny, 7, sits at a computer as his Arthur Gevorgyan works.
© UNICEF/Arthur Gevorgyan

Risky business: COVID-19 and safety at work

27 April 2021
Health

The numbers of home workers around the world  have been swelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, putting a fresh focus on the need for employers to ensure that their employees are working in a safe environment. On the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, we look at some of the ways the UN is helping employers and governments to keep people safe, wherever they work.

Children use their tablet at a UNICEF supported learning centre in a village on the outskirts of Kassala, in Eastern Sudan.
© UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani

Don’t let the digital divide become ‘the new face of inequality’: UN deputy chief

27 April 2021
SDGs

Without decisive action by the international community, the digital divide will become “the new face of inequality”, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned the General Assembly on Tuesday.