UN News Today 22 August 2024 |

Speaking in Samoa, where he met residents uprooted from their homes by sea level rise and coastal erosion, Mr. Guterres said that Pacific islanders had refused to be victims of climate change. But their ambitious plans to resist this “existential threat for millions” had been put on hold, amid a lack of promised funding, he insisted.

The UN chief also called on the world’s biggest polluters to make a “massive increase” in contributions to address “climate chaos”. And he said that although the United Nations was “fighting hard for climate justice” alongside vulnerable nations, “we are not seeing the money that is needed”. 

That is why international financial institutions need to implement reforms so that the funding needs of countries, like Pacific nations can be met,” the UN chief told journalists at UN House in Apia, the capital of Samoa.

Mpox: WHO highlights ‘higher risk’ to children under five

Mpox news now, and a reminder from the UN health agency that because young children face a higher risk of becoming seriously sick and dying from disease, anyone who contracts the virus needs to be vigilant about preventing transmission to them.

In a scheduled briefing on Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that children under five made up more than 30 per cent of cases in newly affected countries such as Burundi. Sexual transmission is known to be another mode of infection.

Most mpox cases are  in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which has reported some 3,500 confirmed infections this year. A total of 13 African countries have reported confirmed mpox cases since 1 January, of which 11 have “active outbreaks”, meaning that they have seen at least one case in the last 42 days. 

From the UN health agency, here’s Dr Maria Van Kerkhove:

“Of course, people need to be taken care of if they have mpox, but there’s ways to prevent the transmission from one person to another, even if you have lesions, by covering them up. The other thing is that if someone has lesions, if they are symptomatic, to avoid having sex, because if we know that they’re in the sexual networks, then that is one way sexual transmission is one way in which the mpox virus is spread between people.”

Dr. Van Kerkhove added that people with underlying conditions and with weakened immune systems “may have worse outcomes” if they are infected with mpox – and that it is important that they know where to seek medical care if needed. 

Amid an increase in transmission of the virus, the WHO official said that the UN agency was continuing to work with affected countries and local partners to ensure that prevention advice is specific to at-risk communities.

Gaza: UN agency UNRWA mourns another deadly school strike

To Gaza, where UN aid teams have warned that vital chlorine supplies that are essential for purifying water are running out and deteriorating, while humanitarians condemned new strikes on schools sheltering people displaced by the war.

There are enough chlorine reserves to last just one month, said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, which said that double the amount of purifying solution needs to be used to be effective now. 

Children are particularly at risk of waterborne disease and the danger is set to rise during the winter months if Gazans continue to be forced to live in overcrowded shelters lacking adequate water and sanitation facilities. 

OCHA added that acute shortages of soap for handwashing, laundry powder/liquid and shampoo, and a lack of disinfectants, continue to allow disease to spread easily. 

“Even when these products are available in the market, people cannot afford them,” the UN aid office said, adding that many Gazans now rely on water trucking operations, with 22 partners now distributing more than 7,000 cubic metres of water daily to 775 registered locations.

In a related development, humanitarians condemned another strike on a UN school in Gaza City whose blast could be seen from more than 12 kilometres away.

The strike on Wednesday was the third time that the school has been hit after strikes in December and July, according to the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which said that children had burned to death in the latest strike. 

Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved