Measles deaths down 88% since 2000, but cases surge
28/11/2025: Nearly 59 million lives have been saved by the measles vaccine since 2000. Despite fewer deaths, measles cases are surging worldwide, even in high-income countries that once eliminated it. There were an estimated 11 million infections in 2024, nearly 800 000 more than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Source: World Health Organization
Egypt triumphs over centuries-old fight against trachoma
28/11/2025: After over 3,000 years of battling the world’s leading infectious cause of avoidable blindness, Egypt has successfully eliminated the disease. While 30 countries are still considered endemic for trachoma, Egypt’s achievement offers hope to the 100 million people still at risk around the world.
Source: Devex
UN chief condemns Guinea-Bissau coup
28/11/2025: The UN has strongly condemned the military coup in Guinea-Bissau, warning that the overthrow of elected authorities just days after national elections represents a grave violation of democratic principles. The coup marks the latest military takeover in West and Central Africa, underscoring persistent regional instability.
Source: UN News
Burkina Faso: three years of broken promises
27/11/2025: Three years ago, Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso promising to address the country’s security crisis and restore civilian rule. Now he has postponed elections until 2029, dissolved the independent electoral commission and pulled the country out of the International Criminal Court. Burkina Faso has become a military dictatorship.
Source: Inter Press Service
G20 leaders rally behind multilateral trade
27/11/2025: Leaders of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries meeting in Johannesburg have expressed their hopes of strengthening multilateral trade rules, through the World Trade Organization. The meeting was boycotted by the US.
Source: Third World Network
UNAIDS warns of massive disruptions to HIV prevention
25/11/2025: The global response to HIV has suffered its most significant setback in decades, especially in low- and middle-income countries, warns a new UNAIDS report. The funding crisis has combined with a deteriorating global human rights environment, with particularly severe consequences for marginalized populations.
Source: UNAIDS
Myanmar is safe?
24/11/2025: Almost 4,000 people from Myanmar now in the US may become subject to deportation to a country wracked by atrocities and targeted ethnic violence, including crimes against humanity. The Trump administration has terminated the Temporary Protective Status for people from Myanmar.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Seventy-nine years without a woman leader at the UN
24/11/2025: Women’s full participation in all decision-making is a core UN principle. A campaign, by 1 for 8 Billion, is now under way for a woman to be elected as the next UN secretary-general. A quarter of countries are currently experiencing a backlash against women’s rights. Misogyny is a common tool of authoritarian leaders.
Source: Human Rights Watch
The G20 has failed on debt relief
24/11/2025: When South Africa assumed the Presidency of the G20, debt sustainability was placed front and centre. Many hoped that, with an African country at the helm, the G20 would finally deliver real solutions to the debt crisis gripping the Global South – particularly Africa. As the South African presidency drew to a close, nothing has fundamentally changed and it is time to look to the UN for genuine solutions.
Source: Inter Press Service
Will African nations lose leverage in an ‘America First’ health plan?
24/11/2025: Health and development experts are concerned that African governments are losing their collective bargaining power under the “America First” principle. The US State Department has sent roving teams to visit African countries to negotiate bilateral health agreements, as opposed to working through the African Union as a bloc.
Source: Devex