As of Wednesday, 12 July, no human contacts of A(H5N1) positive cats have reported any symptoms, the UN health agency said, adding that the surveillance period for all contacts has now complete. National first There have been previous “sporadic” cases of what is more commonly referred to as the bird flu virus, but the cases…
The UN chief expressed deep concern at the extreme vulnerability faced by the Haitian people – especially women and girls – because of brutally violent and “predatory” armed gangs, like those encircling the capital, blocking main roads and controlling access to water, food, health care. “I condemn in the strongest possible terms the widespread sexual violence…
Since the start of the year, abortion has been banned in 14 states across the country, and the consequences of the Supreme Court decision has reverberated throughout the entire legal and policy system, the Human Rights Council-appointed experts said. “The regressive position taken by the US Supreme Court…by essentially dismantling 50 years of precedent protecting…
The appeal comes as countries continue negotiations towards an international treaty on plastic pollution, and ahead of World Environment Day on 5 June. “Plastic production has increased exponentially over recent decades and today the world is generating 400 million tonnes of plastic waste yearly,” said David R. Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and…
Sudan, Burkina Faso, Haiti and Mali have been elevated to the highest alert level, joining Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen. Additionally, a likely El Niño – a naturally occurring climatic phenomenon that has a warming effect on ocean surface temperatures in the central and east Pacific – is also raising fears of climate extremes…
File photo A careless telecommuter compounded the company’s woes after Japan was denied permission to restart work at the world’s largest nuclear power plant due to lapses in safety measures. According to reports, Japan’s Nuclear Regulatory Authority decided last week to prevent the power station from restarting operations. Tokyo Electric Power Co., which runs the…
Although the southern African country has made recent progress in reducing chronic malnutrition, the agency said these gains have been threatened by acute food insecurity, compounded by other challenges such as recurrent climate shocks, preventable disease outbreaks and economic instability. Malawi was also slammed by Tropical Cyclone Freddy in March and is still grappling with…
In a new alert, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that more countries now face outbreaks, increasing numbers of cases are being reported and the outcome for patients is worse than 10 years ago. Killing the poor in plain sight “The pandemic is killing the poor right in front of us,” said…
Countries met to review progress on implementing the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction – a landmark 2015 agreement to reduce damage, losses and deaths from natural and man-made hazards by the end of the decade. During the meeting, they adopted a political declaration which in part calls for improving national mechanisms to share disaster risk…
“Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have reportedly been ‘transferred’ from their traditional rural lives to low-skilled and low-paid employment since 2015, through a programme described as voluntary, but in practice their participation has reportedly been coerced,” they said in a statement. ‘Cultural and political indoctrination’ They noted that the labour transfer programme is facilitated by…
