World News in Brief: Haiti aid response, strikes across Lebanon’s Blue Line, UNEP welcomes Iran prisoner release, healthcare for the displaced

PNP DeskApril 8, 2024September 19, 202408 mins

Since early March, the World Food Programme (WFP) has reached more than 500,000 people, providing school meals, social protection and emergency activities nationwide. The agency has also served some 500,000 hot meals to over 76,000 internally displaced persons in 57 sites in the greater Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. Aid partners have also delivered nearly four million…

Gaza: ‘Systematic dismantling of healthcare must end’ says WHO

PNP DeskApril 6, 2024September 19, 202408 mins

That’s the assessment following a WHO-led multi-agency mission to Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza on 5 April which examined the extent of destruction following a weeks-long Israeli offensive aimed at rooting out militant forces who were allegedly operating inside. The highly complex mission was conducted in collaboration with the acting Hospital Director. Prior to the…

World News in Brief: Fresh Ukraine attacks condemned, Gaza healthcare, DR Congo needs escalating

PNP DeskFebruary 23, 2024September 18, 202406 mins

The latest strikes in the centre and south occurred on the eve of the solemn commemoration marking two years of war and one day after deadly attacks in the Donestsk region, located in the east. ‘Grim reality’ unchanged Denise Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, took to social media to voice her condemnation. “Today’s attacks…

Gaza: UN health agency warns over continuing attacks on healthcare

PNP DeskFebruary 9, 2024September 18, 202405 mins

A total of 645 people have died since 7 October and another 818 were injured as a result of these incidents, said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic, his comments coming amid allegations that a nurse was shot and critically injured while inside an operating theatre at a hospital in Khan Younis. “These attacks have affected 98 healthcare…

World News in Brief: Iran-Pakistan airstrikes, Sudan war crimes probe, AI and healthcare, human rights in global finance

PNP DeskJanuary 18, 2024September 18, 202408 mins

Iran on Wednesday reportedly carried out surprise attacks both inside Pakistan and Iraq which involved using precision missile and drone strikes targeting Sunni terrorist training camps in southwest Balochistan, in order to deter a planned terrorist incursion. The Iranian attacks followed a suicide bombing operation carried out by ISIL militants that killed more than 80…

WHO appeals for $1.5 billion to deliver healthcare in crises

PNP DeskJanuary 15, 2024September 18, 202406 mins

The appeal comes at a time when climate change, drought and other extreme weather events, are fuelling food insecurity, conflict and displacement, causing deeper and increasingly complex health emergencies, leaving healthcare is increasingly under fire. Every humanitarian crisis is a health crisis, WHO said, and each dollar invested in its lifesaving work nets a return…

Gaza: Nearly 600 healthcare attacks since start of war, says WHO

PNP DeskJanuary 5, 2024September 18, 202407 mins

Some 613 people have died within facilities as a result since 7 October last year and more than 770 have been injured, according to latest data on healthcare attacks from the World Health Organization (WHO). Condemning the continuing fighting and bombardment, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said that the “ongoing reduction of humanitarian space plus the…

World News in Brief: Investing in primary healthcare, record hunger in West and Central Africa, UNICEF emergency appeal

PNP DeskDecember 12, 2023September 17, 202406 mins

That warning came from the UN World Health Organization (WHO) on Universal Health Coverage Day – observed on Tuesday – which said without urgent action, “these gaps will only widen”. Health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that investing in resilient health systems, based on strong primary healthcare, is “the most inclusive, equitable and cost-effective…

Gaza Crisis: UN ramps up calls for humanitarian truce as Israeli bombardments cut communications, cripple healthcare

PNP DeskOctober 28, 2023September 17, 2024010 mins

Secretary-General António Guterres said on X, formerly Twitter: “I reiterate my appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, together with the unconditional release of hostages and the delivery of relief at a level corresponding to the dramatic needs of the people in Gaza, where a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in front of our eyes.” The UN…

World News in Brief: Ukraine dam disaster update, childcare investment, healthcare under fire in Sudan

PNP DeskOctober 26, 2023September 17, 202406 mins

These are the grim findings of an assessment published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Thursday, which calls for both immediate and long-term remediation measures. Hundreds of square kilometres were flooded in the disaster, and thousands of square kilometres of reservoir and wetlands were desiccated. UNEP’s preliminary assessment carried out at the request of…