According to a new report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released on Thursday, 10,200 hectares were under opium cultivation this year, down from 12,800 hectares in 2024 and far below the 232,000 hectares recorded before the ban. Production of the drug dropped even more steeply, falling...
The Global Coalition for Social Justice Forum brought together ministers, workers’ and employers’ organizations, UN agencies and civil society to accelerate action on poverty eradication, decent work and social inclusion. The gathering came at a moment described as both hopeful and urgent. Since the coalition’s launch in 2023, governments and...
Estimates indicate one in five children under three are either zero-dose or have missed vaccinations because of the war, putting them at risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. The catch-up campaign aims to inoculate these children against measles, mumps, and rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, polio, rotavirus and pneumonia. It will be carried out by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Palestine...
It seems like science fiction, or even magic: the ability to communicate, control a computer or move a robotic limb via the power of thought. However, it’s not only possible, it’s already transforming the lives of patients with severe disabilities. In 2024, an audience at a UN conference in Geneva...
Although food security has begun to improve in areas where fighting has subsided, famine has taken hold in conflict-hit locations that have been cut off from aid or under siege, according to the latest UN-backed IPC food security analysis. Famine conditions have been confirmed in Darfur’s El Fasher and Kadugli, where “people have endured months...
The warning comes in the latest Emissions Gap Report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), issued on Tuesday ahead of the COP30 climate conference which opens in Belém, Brazil, next week. Nearly a decade has passed since world leaders adopted the Paris Agreement, which aims to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and preferably to a 1.5°C threshold. Climate action plans...
Last month, hundreds of thousands of people returned to northern Gaza – where famine was declared at the end of August – but their access to food is “severely limited”, said Abeer Etefa, Senior Spokesperson at the World Food Programme (WFP). And while many returnees have found their homes in...
The development comes 11 months after the country’s devastating civil war ended with the overthrow of the Assad regime by opposition forces loyal to new President Ahmad Al-Sharaa. Today, as Syrians return home in increasing numbers, the shattered country faces chronic shortages of inward investment, medicines, power and equipment. According to...
Leaders, policymakers and civil society representatives have gathered in Doha for the Second World Summit for Social Development, with the aim of renewing global commitments to inclusion, dignity and social justice. UN News is on the ground, bringing you live updates, key highlights and human stories from inside the conference...
Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that first responders from the UN agency were already “on the ground” to support care for the injured. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) also highlighted its support for affected communities and the emergency response as needs appraisals began....
The finding comes in the latest State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), released on Monday in Rome. “The report delivers a clear message: land degradation is not just an environmental issue – it impacts agricultural productivity, rural livelihoods and food security,” the UN agency said. Human activity driving degradation Land is the...
The discussions took place at the Doha Solutions Forum for Social Development and the first leaders’ meeting of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, held on the margins of the Second World Summit for Social Development. Learn from each other Opening the Solutions Forum, President of the UN General...
