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A strong, sustainable and inclusive recovery from the COVID pandemic is needed to keep the promise of the 2030 Agenda.
© UNICEF/Ashmita Parelkar

UN chief says race to reach SDGs ‘can and must’ be turned around 

13 July 2021
SDGs

The COVID pandemic has taken four million lives, devastated the global economy, pushed a further 124 million people into extreme poverty and continues to inflict profound suffering – dramatically impacting progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN chief said on Tuesday at a key international forum. 

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore meets with students at the Roberto Suazo Córdoba School, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
UNICEF/Bindra

UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore resigns ‘with a heavy heart’

13 July 2021
UN Affairs

The head of the UN Children’s Fund, Henrietta Fore, announced her resignation on Tuesday, in order to devote herself fulltime to caring for her husband, who is suffering from what she described as a serious health issue.

Worsening conflict in northern Afghanistan has forced thousands of people to flee their homes and live in temporary camps.
© UNHCR/Edris Lutfi

Afghanistan: 270,000 newly displaced this year, warns UNHCR

13 July 2021
Peace and Security

The worsening security situation across Afghanistan in the wake of foreign troop withdrawal and Taliban advances, has forced an estimated 270,000 from their homes since January, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported on Tuesday, bringing the total internally displaced to more than 3.5 million.

The UN Convention on Biological Diversity aims to provide solutions to help humans live 'in harmony with nature' in places like the Amazon forest in Brazil.
IMF/Raphael Alves

UN body unveils new plan to end ecological destruction, ‘preserve and protect nature’

13 July 2021
Climate and Environment

Equitably “redirecting, repurposing or eliminating incentives” that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year is just one of the 21 ambitious targets of a new draft agreement released by a UN body in the lead up to the landmark November climate conference, COP26, in the United Kingdom.

 

In Malawi, some students went back to school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
© UNICEF/Malumbo Simwaka

Countries urged to reopen classrooms, assess pandemic-related learning loss

13 July 2021
Culture and Education

Around one in three countries are not yet implementing remedial programmes to help students catch up on their learning, in the wake of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two UN agencies and partners said in a report issued on Tuesday. 

Humanitarian aid being delivered to the Tigray region of Ethiopia by a convoy of 50 trucks .
© WFP

UN appeals for faster passage for aid convoys to Ethiopia’s Tigray

13 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

UN humanitarians appealed on Tuesday for far quicker access to Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region, after the first aid trucks in days to reach the local capital, Mekelle, encountered multiple checks delaying their arrival.

A Somali resident sells meat at a market in Hudur, where food shortages continue to cause suffering.
UN Photo/Tobin Jones

‘Tremendously off track’ to meet 2030 SDGs: UN chief  

12 July 2021
SDGs

Between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020 – some 161 million more than for 2019  – the UN Secretary-General said on Monday; “new, tragic data”, which indicates the world is “tremendously off track” to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. 

Many countries, like Brazil, are still hoping to reach large numbers of unvaccinated people.
© UNICEF/PAHO/Karina Zambrana

COVID-19 booster strategy as Delta multiplies, highlights ‘disappointing inequality’: WHO

12 July 2021
Health

The COVID-19 Delta variant is travelling around the world at a “scorching pace” driving a new spike in cases and deaths, but it’s exposing a ‘hugely uneven and inequitable’ global gap in vaccine supply, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

While potential benefits of human genome editing include a faster and more accurate diagnosis, it must be used as a safe and ethical tool for public health.
CDC

UN reports ‘leap forward’ in regulating DNA-altering technology to benefit all 

12 July 2021
Health

Releasing two companion reports on Monday, the UN health agency has provided the first global recommendations for DNA-altering technology, known as human genome editing, to be used as a safe, effective and ethical public health tool to benefit everyone. 

A woman sorts French beans that she harvested at a cooperative farm in Taveta, Kenya.
© FAO//Fredrik Lerneryd

Conflict, climate change, COVID, forces more people into hunger

12 July 2021
Health

Global hunger levels have skyrocketed because of conflict, climate change and the economic impact of COVID-19; and one in five children around the world is stunted, UN agencies warned on Monday.