First Person

In the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya, residents are provided with soap and water to wash their hands in order to help halt the spread of the coronavirus.
© UNICEF

First Person: The struggle to protect human rights in East Africa during the pandemic

26 May 2020
Health

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in East Africa, the UN Human Rights regional office, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has been contributing to the COVID-19 response of UN country teams in the region, by ensuring that human rights protection for vulnerable people is included in their plans. The head of the office, Nwanneakolam Vwede-Obahor, shared some of the challenges she and her colleagues are facing.

Michael Pili Pang (right) runs a hula dance school in Honolulu, Hawaii
ILO Photo/John Isaac

First person: ‘I am nothing without my culture’

25 May 2020
Culture and Education

A master practitioner of the Hawaiian hula dance has told UN News that he is “nothing without my culture.”

Kai Bussant (pictured) launched her fashion collection just weeks before the coronavirus pandemic spread across the United States.
Nick Shamblott

First Person: Fashionable face masks, creativity and dressing to shop in the COVID era

9 May 2020
Economic Development

A fashion designer and stylist in New Orleans, one of the early epicentres of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, has said that she was left “stifled and confused” by the disruption caused by the pandemic, but recognizes there are opportunities to grow creatively and serve the community by making face masks, with some fashion flair.

Seoul, South Korea
Unsplash/Chinh Le Duc

First person: South Korea’s COVID-19 success story

1 May 2020
Health

On Thursday, the Republic of Korea recorded no locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, prompting praise from UN Secretary-General António Guterres. UN News has been finding out, from two UN colleagues based in the capital, Seoul, how life is changing for the better.