Latest News

The conditions that led to the worst cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe’s history last year, including poor water and sanitation infrastructure, remain and the disease could return this year, an official with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned today.

United Nations officials and staff marked the first World Humanitarian Day today by paying tribute to the efforts of aid workers on the frontlines around the globe and by vowing to redouble the international community’s commitment to continue to assist people in need.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all eligible Afghan men and women to cast their ballots in tomorrow’s presidential and provincial elections, saying their votes will play a crucial role in helping the country on the path towards greater stability and democracy.

The United Nations health agency is providing practical information and technical expertise to countries in South-East Asia to help reduce panic and encourage prevention against the influenza A(H1N1) virus, which has already claimed over 80 lives in the region and continues to spread.

Hunger rates are most severe in the western regions of Nepal, which already ranks near the bottom of the global hunger index, according to a new report by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which is examining food insecurity levels within the South Asian nation.

For nearly two and a half years, Roselidah Ondeko has been at work in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), helping local women find their voices to speak out about the epidemic of gender-based sexual and physical violence in the region.

An advance party of Jordanian police officers arrived in Darfur today ahead of a larger deployment due later this month to strengthen the efforts of the joint United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in the strife-torn Sudanese region.

The United Nations agency dealing with weather, climate and water says an El Niño event has begun in the tropical Pacific and is likely to continue into early 2010.

A senior United Nations official today repeated the world body’s appeal to Israel to ease restrictions on the movement of Palestinians and of goods in the West Bank and Gaza, and urged the prompt resumption and conclusion of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expressing concern about escalating hostilities in the mountains of northern Yemen, where civilians are reported to be trapped in the middle of deadly fighting between Government forces and rebels.