The number of hungry people worldwide is falling, says UN report
28/7/2025: Levels of global hunger are estimated to have dropped slightly each year since 2021, according to the 2025 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. However, the period covered by the report precedes cuts to foreign aid announced this year by Western donors.
Source: Devex
How can a vast electrification drive benefit East Africa?
28/7/2025: In the African continent, 600 million people, or almost 50% of the population, are without electricity access. From this challenging landscape Mission 300 was launched in 2024, a plan to connect 300 million people to electricity by 2030 at a projected cost of USD 90 billion. Can Africa, and East Africa in particular, avoid repeating past mistakes where aid has sometimes translated into power lines without lighting?
Source: Dialogue Earth
WHO projects up to 40% cut in health aid in 2025
24/7/2025: Health aid is projected to decline by up to 40% in 2025 compared to 2023 levels, from over $25 billion to around $15 billion, according to estimates from the World Health Organization. The decline is due to significant donor funding cuts from some of the world’s biggest donor countries, including the US. This will hit many low-income countries heavily reliant on external aid for their health budgets.
Source: Devex
World’s top court endorses compensation from countries responsible for climate crisis
23/7/2025: Governments of countries that have driven global warming with their planet-heating emissions could be held legally accountable for the damage caused to other nations, after the International Court of Justice ruled that harming the climate is a breach of international law.
Source: Climate Home News
US withdraws from UNESCO
22/7/2025: The US government will withdraw from UNESCO in 2026. The State Department cites UNESCO’s "outsized focus" on the Sustainable Development Goals and its inclusion of Palestine as a member state.
Source: Devex
Why is Israel bombing Syria?
16/7/2025: Israel is backing the two prominent allied minorities in Syria — the Kurds in the northeast and the Druze in the south — in their push for a federal governance model. The transitional government in Damascus is pushing for a centralised state and seeking to reassert full control over the entire Syrian territory.
Source: The Conversation
New platform aims to end malaria, TB, and dengue in Asia-Pacific
15/7/2025: The Asian Development Bank is working on a new flagship regional initiative to help accelerate the elimination of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and dengue, which are resurging in the region. Several countries are seeing a decline in grant funding from global agencies such as the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
Source: Devex
The urgency of building peace
14/7/2025: There are more armed conflicts today than at any point since the end of World War II. The chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission explains how the project strives to help countries rebuild after war and sustain peace over the long run.
Source: Devex
Sustainable Development Goals remain way off track
14/7/2025: The UN’s annual Sustainable Development Goals report reveals that only 18 per cent of the Goals are on track to be met by 2030 while a similar percentage have gone backwards. Implementation is impeded by a $4 trillion funding shortfall and geopolitical tensions which are undermining multilateralism.
Source: UN News
UN funding crisis threatens work of Human Rights Council
11/7/2025: The UN Human Rights Council has expressed concern that certain activities mandated by the Council cannot be delivered due to a lack of funding. Virtually all the Council’s work has been affected, with investigations into rights abuses—for example in Sudan, Palestine, and Ukraine—reportedly operating at approximately 30-60 percent of capacity.
Source: Inter Press Service