Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS and under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, has issued a forceful call for equity in global access to COVID-19 vaccines, urging zero discrimination when it comes to health. Her message comes on the occasion of Zero Discrimination Day, where “UNAIDS is highlighting the urgent need to take action to end […]
United Nations
UN peacekeepers get vaccine boon from India
A spokesperson for United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed that the Secretary-General is “extremely grateful” after India granted UN peacekeepers 200,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses. Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced the gift during a meeting of the UN Security Council. India, Jaishankar said, has already supplied vaccines to 25 countries and anticipates […]
Vaccine nationalism controversy continues with UN outcry
The controversy over so-called ‘vaccine nationalism’ continues. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called out in harsh terms unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, at the expense of poorer nations. In remarks delivered to a high-level Security Council meeting, Guterres lambasted that the “progress on vaccinations has been wildly uneven and unfair. Just ten countries have administered […]
Climate emergency recognised by two-thirds worldwide
A poll of 1.22 million people worldwide found almost two-thirds considers there to be a climate emergency. The survey, conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the University of Oxford, covered people in fifty countries. The UNDP touted the poll as “the largest survey of public opinion on [climate change] ever conducted.” Globally, […]
Biden signs orders for U.S. to rejoin WHO and Paris agreement
Newly-inaugurated president Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has reversed two key policy moves of his predecessor, Donald Trump: namely, the latter’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change and to stop U.S. funding to the World Health Organization (WHO). Biden, who was sworn in on January 20th at the United States Capitol in […]
Humanitarian aid: More to be in need, UN warns
The need for humanitarian aid is to increase in 2021, the United Nations (UN) predicts. The Global Humanitarian Overview, released earlier this week, projects more than 235 million people worldwide to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021. This marks a forty percent increase compared to 2020. The figure equates to one in every […]
HIV/AIDS: The pandemic we are missing
Today marks World AIDS Day. As of the end of 2019, HIV/AIDS has claimed 32.7 million lives. In India, 2017 alone saw 69,000 deaths due to HIV/AIDS. The organisation dedicated to combating HIV/AIDS is UNAIDS or, to give it its full title, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS. UNAIDS’s mission assumes heightened […]
Scientists join effort to fight misinformation about COVID-19
During this pandemic, misinformation about COVID-19 has been a major issue of concern. The scientific and medical communities are working to change that – especially when it comes to a COVID-19 vaccine. More than 100 scientists – including more than twenty from India – have joined the cause of Team Halo. Team Halo is a […]
World Food Programme awarded Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced earlier this week that the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme is the 2020 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in tackling hunger worldwide. In Oslo, Norwegian Nobel Committee chairperson Berit Reiss-Andersen announced the decision. She espoused the principle that “food is one of our most basic […]
COVID-19 vaccine: UN endorses resolution
Member states of the United Nations (UN) have endorsed a resolution addressing the COVID-19 pandemic – including addressing accessibility of a COVID-19 vaccine. The COVID-19 outbreak mushroomed into a pandemic earlier this year, with more than two million people at the time of writing having become infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). […]