First Person

Volunteers at work in the quarantine facility on the Thai border with Myanmar.
Migrant Monitoring Group (MMG)

First Person: supporting migrants on the COVID-19 frontline in Myanmar

1 November 2020
Women

One of the far-reaching effects of the global lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has been the return of migrant workers to their home countries.  The UN is assisting the authorities in Myanmar in facilitating this homeward migration, with a focus on providing for the needs of women. 

Hawaii's natural beauty attracts tourists from across the world.
ILO Photo/Kevin Cassidy

First Person: Tourism in Hawaii grounded during pandemic

25 August 2020
Economic Development

Tourism is Hawaii’s biggest industry, with some 10 million visitors to the lslands ever year. But that has all changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, and many businesses on the archipelago have been forced to shut down for good, according to a helicopter pilot who flies pleasure trips for tourists.

Dennis Chimenya (left) meets a family in Pakistan whose children have received the oral polio vaccine.
© UNICEF Pakistan

First Person: Fighting anti-vaccination rumours in Pakistan

24 August 2020
Culture and Education

Polio, a deadly, debilitating, yet easily curable disease, is eradicated in most countries, but is still endemic in Pakistan, partly due to a reluctance to vaccinate amongst some parts of the population. Dennis Chimenya, a health worker with the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, is part of a team trying to counter misconceptions, and save lives.

Husna Gul, a staff member with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Pakistan
© UNICEF Pakistan/S. Mahar

First Person: Pakistan health worker commits to polio fight, despite COVID fears

22 August 2020
Health

Despite suffering the after-effects of the COVID-19 virus, Husna Gul, a staff member with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Pakistan, is committed to ensuring that as many children as possible are vaccinated against the devastating consequences of polio, which can cause muscle-wasting, paralysis and death. 

Sabra Kauka is a cultural practitioner and teaches Hawaiian studies on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.
ILO Photo/Kevin Cassidy

First Person: COVID-19 helping Hawaiians to ‘recognize the importance of heritage’

9 August 2020
Culture and Education

Sabra Kauka is a cultural practitioner and teaches Hawaiian Studies at the Island School on the island of Kauai, in Hawaii, while acting as a coordinator for the Department of Education. As the daughter of an army officer, she spent much of her youth living overseas, but “felt the call to come home” to Hawaii as an adult after reading a newspaper article which highlighted the poor standard of living for indigenous Hawaiians in Hawaii.

Sophia Kianni is an 18-year-old climate and environmental activist from the United States
Joe Hobbs

First Person: Turning ‘apathetic people into climate activists’; a young person’s view

3 August 2020
Climate and Environment

An 18-year-old environmental campaigner from the United States has told UN News how she wants to “turn apathetic people into climate activists”. Sophia Kianni, whose family originally comes from Iran, is one of seven young people from across the world who have been selected to participate in the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change. The group which was launched at the end of the July aims to engage young people in “an open and transparent dialogue” about climate issues.

The study of astronomy can “shed light” light on the challenges the planet faces from climate change.
University of Hawaii/Henry Weilan

First Person: Looking to the skies to understand the climate crisis

29 June 2020
Climate and Environment

Could studying the cosmos help us to fight the climate crisis? Two astronomers at the University of Hawaii think that knowledge of the solar system may help to slow down the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Fred Cowell is the General Manager of Kauai Coffee Company in Hawaii.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

First Person: Innovation brewing at Hawaii coffee farm

25 June 2020
Economic Development

Innovation and experimentation are helping a coffee farm in the US state of Hawaii to prosper in a competitive market, an approach which has helped the company to get through the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The UN estimates that estimates that about 25 to 50 per cent of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed and another 60 per cent are under threat.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

First Person: Collecting the ‘Book of Life’ for coral reefs

6 June 2020
Climate and Environment

With the climate crisis threatening coral reefs around the world, a researcher in Hawaii is part of a team pioneering new techniques to preserve living coral sperm and larvae, and ultimately save the biodiversity and genetic diversity of coral reefs not just in Hawaii but across the world.

OCHA's Gema Cortés (right) interviews and photographs a woman in Bolivar, Venezuela prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.
UN OCHA/Marrero

First Person: Countering COVID-19 misinformation in Venezuela

5 June 2020
Health

The virus of false information and fake news which has proliferated globally as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, has not spared the crisis-wracked South American country, Venezuela. But the United Nations there is countering the misinformation by making sure that Venezuelans receive trustworthy and reliable information about the deadly virus.