The cyclone made landfall on the island’s eastern coast on 28 November, triggering widespread flooding and deadly landslides across all 25 districts. While some displaced families have begun returning home, recent heavy rains caused fresh flooding, landslides and road closures, particularly in the central districts of Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and...
Officials said global outbreaks are accelerating as millions of children remain under-immunized following years of COVID-19 pandemic-related disruption. “Measles remains one of the most contagious respiratory viruses,” said Dr. Kate O’Brien, WHO’s Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals. “One person can infect up to 18 others. Many people think measles...
Since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, children have continued to bear the brunt of the crisis – unable to attend school regularly, learn safely or experience a sense of normalcy. Air raid alarms disrupt classes. Many schools, especially in frontline areas, remain closed because of hostilities or the lack...
Under the agreement, the price of the R21/Matrix-M vaccine will fall to $2.99 per dose within a year – a reduction expected to save up to $90 million. Those savings should allow countries to secure more than 30 million extra doses over the next five years. “Today’s announcement is a...
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...
Currently a Category 4 storm and moving slowly across the Caribbean Sea, Melissa is forecast to strengthen to Category 5, with sustained winds of at least 157 mph (about 252 kmh). Countries across the region, including Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, are expected to endure several days of...
Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy for the humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, briefed journalists on her recent visit to Sudan and neighbouring Chad – a critical entry point for aid and a haven for some 850,000 people who have fled fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support...
Speaking at Monday’s Parliamentary Forum of the Third UN Conference on LLDCs, senior UN leaders stressed that political will, matched with national legislative action, is essential if a new decade-long development plan is to make a real difference. There are 32 such countries globally, home to over half a billion...
“The thousands of people seeking to return home are driven by hope, resilience and an enduring connection to their country,” said Othman Belbeisi, regional director of the International Organization of Migration (IOM). While this development does offer hope, many of these people are returning to states and cities whose...
This represents a 24 per cent increase from December 2024 according to the UN agency – the largest number of people displaced by violence on record there. “Behind these numbers are so many individual people whose suffering is immeasurable; children, mothers, the elderly, many of them forced to flee their...
There are 10,000 children in Madagascar who, like Tenasoa, work in the largely unregulated mica industry. The silicate is used in paints, car parts, and cosmetics – to add a “shimmer” effect. Alongside parents and grandparents, these children toil in dangerous conditions, inhaling harmful dust particles and entering structurally unsound...
More than 36 million are struggling to meet their basic food needs, which is projected to rise to over 52 million during the lean season from June to August, latest analysis reveals. This includes almost three million people facing emergency conditions, and 2,600 people in Mali who are at risk...
