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President Collen Vixen Kelapile of Botswana delivers his inaugural speech to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
UN WebTV

New ECOSOC President aims to maximize ‘reach, relevance and impact’

23 July 2021
SDGs

The role of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in promoting development has become “even more critical” as a way of guiding and informing the COVID-19 pandemic response worldwide, Collen Vixen Kelapile said on Friday, speaking for the first time as the UN body’s president. 

Water supply systems are on the verge of collapse in Lebanon.
© UNICEF/Fouad Choufany

Lebanon: Public water system on the verge of collapse, UNICEF warns

23 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

The public water system in Lebanon is “on life support” and could collapse at any moment, putting 71 per cent of the population, or more than four million people, at immediate risk of losing access to safe supply, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Friday. 

Rescuers pull villagers from flood waters in Xingyang city in China's Henan Province.
China Fire and Rescue

Water-related hazards dominate list of 10 most destructive disasters

22 July 2021
Climate and Environment

Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing global climate, water-related hazards top the list of natural disasters with the highest human losses in the past 50 years, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Aid workers arrive in Mekelle in the Ethiopian region of Tigray on the first humanitarian passenger flight there.
© WFP/Photolibrary

Tigray: As famine looms, first WFP humanitarian flight arrives 

22 July 2021
Humanitarian Aid

Lifesaving assistance arrived for the beleaguered Tigray region of Ethiopia on Thursday as the first UN World Food Programme (WFP) plane carrying humanitarian workers touched down in the capital Mekelle. 

A 76-year-old man shows his vaccination card after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in Kasoa, Ghana.
© UNICEF/Francis Kokoroko

COVID-19: Africa ‘third wave’ not yet over, while vaccine inequity threatens all

22 July 2021
Health

Although new COVID-19 cases in Africa have slowed following an eight-week surge, this “small step forward” could be short-lived, the Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. 

A farmer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has received agricultural training, tools, and seeds from FAO.
© WFP/Arete/Fredrik Lerneryd

FAO head urges G20 to invest in a healthy planet for healthy food

22 July 2021
Climate and Environment

The head of the UN food relief agency called on the world’s richest nations on Thursday to invest more in sustainable living, to feed the world’s growing population.
 

A neighbhourhood of Port-au-Prince in Haiti is being digitally mapped for higher rates of HIV infection.
© UNICEF/Marco Dormino

Revealed: Inequalities persist in HIV prevention, child treatment services

22 July 2021
Health

Nearly half of the 1.7 million children worldwide living with HIV were not on treatment last year, the UN programme leading the global fight against HIV and AIDS, UNAIDS, said in a report released together with partners. 

The Tokyo Olympic Games are set to start on July 23, 2021.
© 2021 - IOC/Yuichi Yamazaki

WHO’s Tedros backs Tokyo Olympic Games ‘power to inspire’

21 July 2021
Health

The head of the UN World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has welcomed the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a chance to spread “hope to the world”.
 

A mother brings her young girl to a medical appointment at a health centre in Caracas, Venezuela.
© UNICEF/Alejandra Pocaterra

Lifesaving help needed for Venezuela cancer patients hit by US sanctions

21 July 2021
Human Rights

Independent UN rights experts on Wednesday warned that hundreds of Venezuelan cancer patients could die because they have been caught up in the excessively strict application of United States sanctions aimed at Venezuela and the state-owned oil company, Petroleum of Venezuela.

Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa speaks at the General Assembly’s informal plenary meeting for Nelson Mandela International Day.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Nelson Mandela: 'Synonymous with the fight for justice and equality'

21 July 2021
Human Rights

Celebrating what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 102nd birthday on Wednesday, the UN deputy chief hailed the man who led the struggle that ended the racist apartheid system in his native South Africa as exemplifying “courage, compassion and an unwavering commitment to social justice and equality”.