COVAX

An Afghan refugee is vaccinated against COVID-19 in Rawalpindi in Pakistan.
© UNHCR/Asif Shahzad

Refugees face dire consequences from COVID-19 underfunding, UNHCR warns 

17 September 2021
Migrants and Refugees

Underfunding has left a “yawning gap” in the UN Refugee Agency’s ability to protect forcibly displaced people worldwide from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNHCR said on Friday. 

The Republic of Congo received just over 300,000 doses of the COVID vaccines through the COVAX Facility in August 2021.
© UNICEF/Aimable Twiringiyima

Africa faces 470 million COVID-19 vaccine shortfall this year 

16 September 2021
Health

Africa needs around 470 million doses to accomplish the global of fully vaccinating 40 per cent of its population by the end of the year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.  

Patients wait for their COVID-19 vaccination at a health centre in Kabale District, Uganda.
© UNICEF/Catherine Ntabadde

Only 2% of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Africa 

14 September 2021
Health

More than 5.7 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally, but only 2% of them in Africa, said World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday. 

A health worker in Mali prepares one of 396,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses supplied to the West African country through the COVAX Facility.
© UNICEF/Seyba Keïta

COVID-19: ‘Unacceptable’ deals and delays, hampering lifesaving COVAX deliveries 

8 September 2021
Health

While 80 per cent of citizens in high and upper-middle income nations have had a dose of COVID-19 vaccine, that figure stands at just 20 per cent for those living below the top tiers, according to a joint statement issued by UN and partner agencies, responsible for the multilateral COVAX initiative to provide equal access for all. 

Ap Reiki, a local leader shows the V for vaccinated sign after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in Dagana district, Bhutan.
© UNICEF Bhutan/Tshering

Share excess COVID-19 vaccines now, UNICEF chief says ahead of G7 summit

16 May 2021
Health

The deadly increase in COVID-19 cases  in India could potentially occur elsewhere if vulnerable countries do not have access to vaccines, the head of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, warned on Monday in a bid to get richer nations to share their excess doses.

WHO have launched an intelligence hub which will be a global platform for pandemic and epidemic intelligence.
Unsplash/Martin Sanchez

Early-warning ‘pandemic hub’ plan unveiled by WHO’s Tedros and Germany’s Merkel

5 May 2021
Health

An international hub for pandemic control is to open in Berlin to ensure better preparedness and transparency in the fight against likely future global health threats, the UN health agency announced on Wednesday.

Eunice Marorongwe recovered from COVID-19 and is back at work helping patients.
© UNICEF

Overcoming COVID myths and fears in Malawi

2 May 2021
Health

Healthcare workers in Malawi are concerned that misinformation about COVID-19 is preventing patients in dire need of medical attention not related to the virus, from seeking what could be live-saving treatment.

Murals in Baghdad’s Shualah area, Iraq, teach health measures on how to safely treat family members with COVID19 at their home.
UNAMA

Iraq: UN representative calls for ‘stronger protection measures’ after fatal fire in COVID hospital

25 April 2021
Health

The UN Special Representative in Iraq expressed “shock and pain” on Sunday over a deadly accident that befell a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. 

A healthcare worker at the Rumginae Hospital which serves communities in North Fly District, in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.
UN Papua New Guinea/Rachel Donovan

Seeing health ‘opportunities’ in post-pandemic Papua New Guinea: a UN Resident Coordinator blog

24 April 2021
Health

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.

More than 355,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines shipped by COVAX arrive in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
© UNICEF/Frank Dejongh

Vaccine equity the ‘challenge of our time’, WHO chief declares, as governments call for solidarity, sharing

16 April 2021
Health

With the number of new COVID-19 cases nearly doubling over the past two months, approaching the highest infection rate the world has seen during the pandemic, the unequal distribution of vaccines is not only a moral outrage, but economically and epidemiologically self-defeating, the head of the UN health agency told a special ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Friday.