January 17, 2020 No comments
Urgent need for ‘immediate’ solutions to combat drug-resistant infections, warns WHO
INTERNATIONAL, 17 January 2020, Health - Drug-resistant infections are on the rise as private investment in new antibiotic development declines, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. Two new WHO reports reveal that while some 50 new antibiotics and 10 biologics are under development, only 32 of the total target WHO-priority pathogens and the majority have very limited benefits when compared to existing antibiotics. “Never has the threat of antimicrobial resistance been more immediate and the need for solutions more urgent”, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The reports also found that antibiotics research and development is primarily driven by small or medium-sized enterprises, as large pharmaceutical companies continue to exit the field. “Numerous initiatives are underway to reduce resistance, but we also need countries and the pharmaceutical industry to step...
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January 17, 2020 No comments
Haiti earthquake victims honoured at UN, with pledge to safeguard the nation’s future
INTERNATIONAL, 17 January 2020, Peace and Security - More than 200,000 Haitians who perished in the devastating earthquake which struck the island nation ten years ago, were honoured in a solemn ceremony of remembrance at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, along with 102 staffers who died – the single greatest loss of life in the Organization’s history. Haitians had been starting a new year with optimism, recalled UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the wreath-laying, but “in a few seconds, their hopes turned to dust.” “I will never forget the shock and sadness across the world and throughout the United Nations as the scale of the tragedy became clear”, he added. Although 12 January 2010, was one of the darkest days in its history, Haiti “drew on the...
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January 17, 2020 No comments
Libya: ‘Dire and untenable’ situation for tens of thousands of children in unrelenting conflict
INTERNATIONAL, 17 January 2020, Peace and Security - The world should not accept the “dire and untenable” situation facing children in wartorn Libya the head of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said on Friday. “Children in Libya, including refugee and migrant children, continue to suffer grievously amidst the violence and chaos unleashed by the country’s longstanding civil war”, Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement. Since last April, when renewed hostilities broke out on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli, and western Libya, conditions for thousands of children and civilians deteriorated, with indiscriminate attacks in populated areas that have caused hundreds of deaths. div class="tcu-imageWrapper tcu-image-1218134162361790465 js-cspForcedStyle" data-style="background-image: url(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1216768351621480450/pxa58x5X?format=jpg&name=600x314); background-size: cover;"> Libya: Tens of thousands of children at risk amidst violence and chaos of unrelenting conflict UNICEF has...
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January 17, 2020 No comments
Tackling femicide in Argentina: a UN Resident Coordinator blog
INTERNATIONAL, 17 January 2020, Women - Tackling violence against women is crucial to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In January, the United Nations launched a Decade of Action to support meeting the 17 goals by 2030. In this blog, UN News has invited Roberto Valent, the UN Resident Coordinator in Argentina to highlight what efforts are being taken in the South American country to reduce the rate of femicide or the murder of women. Natalia Bandiera was 42 years old and lived in the city of Necochea, in Buenos Aires province, on the Atlantic coast of the South American country. She was recently killed by her partner, who shot her four times at close range and then barricaded himself in their house. A week earlier Natalia had...
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January 16, 2020 No comments
Syrian conflict has ‘erased’ children’s dreams: new UN report
INTERNATIONAL, 16 January 2020, Human Rights - Nearly nine years of conflict in Syria have robbed boys and girls of their childhood and subjected them to “unabated violations of their rights”, including being killed, maimed, displaced, forced to fight or subjected to torture, rape and sexual slavery. The findings come in the latest report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, released on Thursday. “I am appalled by the flagrant disregard for the laws of war and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by all parties involved in the conflict”, said Commission chair Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro. “While the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic has the primary responsibility for the protection of boys and girls in the country, all of the actors in this conflict must do more to protect children and preserve the country’s future generation.” Dreams erased The...
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