A lack of clean water is threatening the well-being and “cultural identity” of the people of Samoa and other Pacific Island nations according to the UN’s most senior representative across the region.
The UN has called for dialogue in Samoa, where the first woman elected as Prime Minister was locked out of Parliament on Monday amid a bitter power struggle with the country’s long-standing leader.
A recap of Tuesday’s stories includes a day of activism on Human Rights Day; 70 Samoan lives now claimed by measles; COP25 news roundup from Madrid; global trade on the slide; and legal proceedings begin at the ICJ against Myanmar, as Aung San Suu Kyi prepares to defend her country against genocide allegations.
Seventy people have now died from Samoa’s measles outbreak, UN humanitarians confirmed on Tuesday, as the organization released emergency funding to help the authorities step up efforts to eradicate the preventable disease.
UN teams are on the ground in Samoa as the country combats a deadly measles epidemic. So far, there have been more than 4,200 cases and 62 deaths, mainly babies, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency on 15 November and launch a mass vaccination campaign five days later.
UN agencies are assisting authorities in Samoa as they battle a measles outbreak which has killed more than 60 people, mainly babies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has flown in emergency medical teams from across the globe who are working alongside local colleagues in a mass inoculation campaign using vaccines supplied by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The UN also is supporting a national awareness campaign aimed at rebuilding trust following the deaths last year of two babies during routine vaccinations.
A village and cemetery in Vanuatu connected to a chief who ruled four centuries ago are an example of Pacific Island heritage that must be protected, according to an official with the UN cultural agency, UNESCO, in the region.
Akatsuki Takahashi, a UNESCO Culture Specialist based in Samoa, was in Australia recently to attend a symposium held by Blue Shield, a non-governmental international organization described as a kind of “Red Cross” for culture.
