A Rohingya refugee and volunteer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has been telling UN News how his community has been “once again traumatized” as a result of a massive fire which swept through the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh in March, killing at least 11 people and making more than 45,000 homeless.

The global COVID-19 pandemic could provide “opportunities” to improve health care in Papua New Guinea (PNG) after the crisis is over, according to the United Nations’ most senior official in the southwestern Pacific Ocean nation.

Small island developing states (SIDS) must receive financial and international support if they are to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Munir Akram, said on Friday. 

Over one year into the COVID-19 pandemic and 90% of countries are still reporting one or more disruptions to essential health services. The findings of the second World Health Organization (WHO) “pulse survey” reveal that no substantial global change has been made since the first survey was conducted in the summer of 2020.