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Floods in Chad since July have caused one of the country’s worst cholera epidemics in 10 years, with nearly 2,600 cases and 112 deaths reported as of the start of the month, forcing the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners to scale up their activities.

In an effort to curb child and maternal mortality rates in Zimbabwe, the United Nations and the World Bank are supporting a $700 million Government initiative to increase spending on the provision of health services in the country over the next three years.

The United Nations tribunals trying those alleged to have committed atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda are making good progress in completing their work, but their efforts are being hampered by a lack of resources and the departure of some of their most experienced staff, the heads of the two bodies said today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced the hope today that any differences over the awarding of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo of China, which Beijing has opposed, would not detract from promoting the human rights agenda globally or from the prize’s prestige.

Ten years after the adoption of a Security Council resolution calling for equal participation by women in post-conflict peacebuilding, much remains to be done to ensure they can play their part in shoring up peace, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a report released today.

United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners have delivered almost 170,000 tons of food to millions of people affected by the severe floods that first hit the country in late July, and are preparing to distribute seeds and fertilizer ahead of the planting season in an effort to enable 4.2 million people to feed themselves again.

The Security Council delegation visiting Sudan travelled to the war-ravaged region of Darfur today, expressing its concern over increased strife, civilian protection, sexual violence and the illegal flow of weapons, while the search continues for an abducted staff member of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission there.

Over 1 million people in Somalia have been affected by the expulsion by Al Shabaab militants of international organizations that provide support in areas such as agriculture and livelihoods, health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, the United Nations reported in its latest update.

The burden of caring for the world’s 43 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) should be shared by the entire international community and not just the developing countries where 80 per cent of those uprooted from their homes live, the United Nations refugee chief said today.

The United Nations mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has demolished a controversial settlement inhabited by uprooted members of the Roma community, which was contaminated with lead from a nearby plant.