UN News Today 20 August 2024 |

Combating mpox is a ‘litmus test for global equity’: UN health agency

The ongoing mpox outbreak will be a “test for global equity” and eradicating it will depend on all countries and particularly those in Africa getting the vaccines they need, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The development comes after the UN health agency announced last week that mpox represents a public health emergency of international concern once again – as it did in 2022.

But the disease “is not the new COVID-19” and there is no need for widespread alarm, said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO’s Regional Director for Europe:

“The risk to the general population is low. We know what to do and we need this time the political commitment to go for elimination. Otherwise, we will always see neglect and then panic, again. So, let’s have the political commitment to go the last mile. And especially, stand in solidarity with the African region.”

The mpox outbreak in the European region is almost exclusively the clade two variant – as opposed to the new Clade 1b which is believed to be driving the latest surge.

It primarily transmits through skin-to-skin contact with mpox lesions, including during sex.

Across Africa in recent weeks, there’s been an “unprecedented” increase in the number of countries reporting mpox cases and outbreaks, including Clade 1b, which is considered to be more severe, according to the UN health agency.

Ukraine: Attacks on civilians must stop, insists top UN representative

To Ukraine, where the UN’s top humanitarian official there on Tuesday condemned “yet another attack by Russian Armed Forces” in the eastern Donetsk region.

UN Resident Coordinator Matthias Schmale said that the attack damaged a transit centre in Pokrovsk town “where people already fleeing for safety had sought shelter”.

In a statement, he insisted that civilians and civilian infrastructure – including humanitarian facilities – were protected under international humanitarian law, “which must be adhered to”.

In a related development, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that nearly half a million pensioners living near Ukraine’s frontline have received vital cash assistance.

The WFP programme runs in partnership with the Ukrainian authorities, with funding from several European Union countries and private donors. Nearly $50 million has been distributed in the last 12 months for pensioners who receive less than $81 per month from the Government.

The UN agency also distributes food boxes in areas closest to the front line, “where food is hard to find or very expensive”, and it provides daily hot meals for 90,000 schoolchildren across the country, among other assistance.

News of the WFP assistance comes as the UN migration agency IOM warned that active hostilities in Ukraine continue “to harm civilians, damage homes and disrupt critical services”, some two and a half years since the full-scale Russian invasion.

Gaza evacuation orders have uprooted 13,500 Palestinians: OCHA

As the war continues in Gaza, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that more than 13,500 people in the enclave have been forcibly displaced by the latest Israeli military evacuation orders.

OCHA said that 18 sites in Gaza have been affected by an Israeli evacuation order issued at the weekend.

Locations impacted include the entire Al Maghazi refugee camp and several neighbourhoods also in Deir al Balah, in the centre of the Gaza Strip.

The UN aid coordination said that five schools fall within the new evacuation zone, along with 14 water, sanitation and health facilities, two primary healthcare centres and five medical points.

“Ongoing hostilities, constant evacuation orders and severe shortages of essential supplies are making it increasingly difficult for displaced families to access basic services at their places of arrival,” OCHA warned, adding that since October, 86 per cent of the Gaza Strip has been ordered to move at least once.

Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved