Africa’s maternal deaths compel action to meet Global Goals
3/1/2023: The effects of COVID-19 on Africa’s health sector have disrupted antenatal and postnatal care for women and newborns. The shortage of health workers and equipment is undermining the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for maternal mortality across the continent.
Source: Inter Press Service
Tanzania ends ban on political rallies
9/1/2023: Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ended a six-year ban on politicians holding political rallies outside of election periods. Hassan continues to respond to human rights concerns associated with her predecessor, the late John Magufuli.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Fall in child mortality rate slows
9/1/2023: An estimated 5 million children died before their fifth birthday and 1.9 million babies were stillborn during 2021. The UN reports that 54 countries will fall short of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals target for under-five mortality.
Source: Unicef
Another bleak year expected for food security
4/1/2023: As the war in Ukraine approaches its second year, food experts are concerned that fertilizer shortages and rising prices will impact crop yields. Rising debt levels are affecting low-and-middle-income countries, constraining imports of basic staples.
Source: Devex
What’s left of Russia-US nuclear arms control?
3/1/2023: Thirty years ago, the United States and Russia agreed to reduce and limit their nuclear weapons and signed the START II treaty. Today, with a war raging in Ukraine, all hopes for disarmament seem to have been shattered.
Source: DW
UN Security Council reform moves at snail’s pace
23/12/2022: The UN has made significant contributions as a humanitarian relief organization but remains deadlocked as a political body. The permanent five countries continue to exercise their veto, even though they no longer reflect geopolitical reality.
Source: Inter Press Service
Yemen: Little hope for end to war in 2023
26/12/2022: The 2022 ceasefire in Yemen has lapsed with opposing factions unwilling to negotiate. The UN continues to call the situation in Yemen the worst humanitarian disaster in the world.
Source: DW
Why the world isn’t ready for the next pandemic
21/12/2022: Several initiatives to prepare the world for the next pandemic have been put in place over the past two years. But many of them remain a work in progress, leaving the world unprepared for another global health threat in 2023.
Source: Devex
UN condemns Taliban decision to bar women from universities
21/12/2022: The UN family and the entire humanitarian community in Afghanistan has condemned the Taliban’s decision to close universities to women. The Taliban has already barred girls from secondary school and excluded women from most of the workforce.
Source: UN News
Historic UN censure of Myanmar Junta
21/12/2022: The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution denouncing the Myanmar military’s rights violations since the February 2021 coup. The landmark resolution is the first on Myanmar in the UN's history.
Source: Human Rights Watch