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With more than 22 million children under the age of five either obese or overweight, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today warned that they risk developing diabetes and must be helped.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a new call today to all parties in Côte d'Ivoire to end violence and do everything possible to prevent "the devastating resurgence of ethnic conflict" after a government breach of the ceasefire with rebels last week led to a fresh outbreak of turmoil in the West African country.

Research into health systems could prevent half of all global deaths with simple and cost-effective measures, producing dramatic improvements in health worldwide by translating scientific knowledge into action on the ground, according to a new United Nations report released today.

Integrating providers of reproductive health services into the battle against HIV infection could bring the campaign to millions of women who are now at the centre of the global pandemic but fall through gaps in preventive efforts, according to a new United Nations analysis published today.

Three years after Asian countries committed themselves to fighting the commercial sexual exploitation of children, new initiatives in the region are leading the way in countering the scourge, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today.

The top United Nations envoy for Kosovo today appealed to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members providing the troops that keep the peace in the ethnically-divided province to "stay the course" and maintain adequate force levels to ensure the establishment of a stable multiethnic society.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today the international community needs to heal its divisions and engage in a constructive debate about how to build a collective system of security, forge global partnership for development, and promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world.

United Nations peacekeepers today assisted in the evacuation of hundreds of foreigners from Côte d'Ivoire after a government breach of a ceasefire with rebels, rioting and looting in the largest city, and harassment and intimidation of expatriates raised tensions in the West African country.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today warmly welcomed the signing of humanitarian and security accords between the Sudanese Government and rebels in the western region of Darfur and urged them to resolve without delay what the international organization has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

As part of the United Nations role in helping Iraq organize elections after last year's United States invasion, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, met today with the country's Independent Electoral Commission.