Taking to two wheels fosters “sustainable consumption and production”, and has a “positive impact on climate”, according to the UN.

Moreover, biking enhances access to education, health care and sport; and the synergy between the bicycle and the cyclist raises a more intimate and immediate awareness of the local environment.

According to the UN Environment Programme, even though the benefits of investing in pedestrians and cyclists can “save lives, help protect the environment and support poverty reduction”, the mobility needs of people who walk and cycle, mostly urban dwellers, “continue to be overlooked”.

“The price paid for mobility is too high, especially because proven, low-cost and achievable solutions exist”, underscores UNEP’s Share the Road Programme Annual Report 2018. “No-one should die walking or cycling to work or school”.

The Programme continues to advocate for action, working with countries around the world to prioritize the needs of pedestrians and cyclists – a critical part of the mobility solution for helping cities break the link between population growth and increased emissions, and to improve air quality and road safety.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), safe infrastructure for walking and cycling is also a pathway to greater health equity for the poorest urban dwellers, by providing transport “while reducing the risk of heart disease, stroke, certain cancers, diabetes, and even death”.

A ‘crucial contribution’

UN Headquarters in New York marked the day with a special outdoor event, which General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa observed comes “at a crucial time” as there are only 11 years left “to avoid the worst impacts of climate change”.

After speaking at the event, UN News caught up with Phil Southerland, CEO and co-founder of Team Novo Nordisk, an American global all-diabetes sports team of cyclists, triathletes and runners.

At just seven months old, Mr. Southerland was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Living in Tallahassee Florida, his parents were told that he would be dead or blind by age 25. Fortunately, at 12 years-old he discovered bicycling.

While helping a friend in college to manage his own type 1 diabetes, Mr. Southerland realized the value of using the bike as a means to “show the world that exercise is the billion-dollar drug that never gets prescribed”.

The athlete is living proof that “you can still chase your dreams with diabetes”.

BreakThroughMedia

Ambassadors from Indonesia, New Zealand and Bahrain joined athletes from Team Novo Nordisk, the world’s first all diabetes sports team, to celebrate the World Bicycle Day at UN Headquarters in New York. Team Novo Nordisk CEO and Co-Founder Phil Southerland is standing to the left of Billy, the mascot.

In a new report highlighting how few of the world’s poorest pregnant women have a doctor, nurse of midwife at their side when they need them most, the UN Children’s Fund said that more than 800 women die every day from complications, while many more mothers live with “debilitating” outcomes.

At least 7,000 stillbirths also occur every day - half being babies who were alive when labour began - while 7,000 babies also die in the first month of life, UNICEF said.

For far too many families, the sheer costs of childbirth can be catastrophic. If a family cannot afford these costs, the consequences can even be fatal - UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore

“For far too many families, the sheer costs of childbirth can be catastrophic. If a family cannot afford these costs, the consequences can even be fatal”, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “When families cut corners to reduce maternal health care costs, both mothers and their babies suffer.”

More than five million families across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean spend at least 40 per cent of their non-food household expenses for the entire year just on maternal health services, according to UNICEF.

Approximately 1.9 million of these families are in Africa, while around three million are in Asia. Compared with most rich countries, where a skilled birth attendant is present at almost all deliveries, the tally drops significantly in least developed countries, the UNICEF research shows.

These States include Somalia (9.4 per cent) and South Sudan (19.4 per cent), along with Madagascar (44.3 per cent), Papua New Guinea (53 per cent), Afghanistan (58.8 per cent) and Myanmar (60.2 per cent), based on 2013-2018 data.

Within countries, the gap is also stark between those who can afford help and those that that cannot. In South Asia, for example, three times as many wealthy women receive four or more antenatal care visits than women from poorer families.

When it comes to women giving birth at a facility, the gap between the poorest and the richest women is more than double in West and Central Africa, according to UNICEF.

'Wide gaps' persist

“Although global coverage of skilled birth attendance has shown impressive gains in recent years, wide gaps in coverage across countries persist,” it said in a statement.

According to UNICEF’s analysis, from 2010 to 2017, health personnel increased in many countries. However, this increase was “minimal” in the world’s developing countries, where maternal and neonatal mortality levels have been highest.

For example, from 2010 to 2017, coverage increased from four to five health workers per 10,000 people in Mozambique, and from three to nine in Ethiopia. In contrast, Norway saw that number increase from 213 to 228 health personnel over the same period.

“Doctors, nurses and midwives play a critical role in saving mothers, yet millions of births occur every year without a skilled attendant,” UNICEF said. Focusing on uneven access to emergency care across the world, the UN agency underscored the lifesaving value of a caesarean section, or C-section.

Globally, around 30 million C-sections were carried out in 2015 – almost double the number in 2000, but their prevalence in Latin America and the Caribbean - in 44 per cent of all births in 2015 - was more than 10 times higher than in West and Central Africa.

“This low percentage of C-sections in West and Central Africa is alarming, suggesting a dire lack of access to this potentially lifesaving intervention,” UNICEF warned. Globally, the report also notes that pregnancy-related complications are the number one cause of death among girls between 15 and 19 years old.

Child brides at greater risk

This is partly because adolescent girls are still growing and are at great risk of complications if they become pregnant. Yet the report finds that child brides are less likely to receive proper medical care while pregnant or to deliver in a health facility, compared to women who married as adults.

In Cameroon, Chad and the Gambia, more than 60 per cent of girls now aged 20-24 who married before turning 15 have three or more children, compared to less than 10 per cent of women at the same age who married as adults. 

Despite its concerns, the UN agency maintains that overall, the number of women and girls who die each year from issues related to pregnancy and childbirth has dropped more than 40 per cent in the past 20 years, from 532,000 in 1990, to 303,000 in 2015.

The UN agency also expressed hope that the inclusion of a skilled healthworker in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2030 Agenda would spur efforts to reach universal health coverage and reduce maternal and newborn deaths.

In an effort to protect the world’s newborns, UNICEF’s Every Child ALIVE campaign calls for greater investment in health systems, recruitment and training of doctors, nurses and midwives; clean and functional health facilities with water, soap and electricity for every mother and baby, life-saving drugs and equipment during delivery, and for the empowering of adolescent girls and families to demand quality care.

Ahead of the 2019 World Environment Day on Wednesday, which has air pollution as its theme, David Boyd, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, called on states to take urgent action to improve air quality in order to fulfill their human rights obligations. 

Air pollution is a deadly, man-made problem, responsible for the early deaths of some seven million people every year, around 600,000 of whom are children. It is estimated that 90 per cent of the world’s population breathe polluted air.  

Every five seconds, somebody around the world dies prematurely as a result.  

In a statement, Mr. Boyd said that uncontaminated air is a core component of the right to a healthy environment, together with clean water and adequate sanitation, healthy and sustainably produced food, a non-toxic environment, healthy biodiversity and a safe climate.  

“The right to a healthy environment is fundamental to human well-being and is legally recognized by over 150 States at the national and regional levels. It should be globally reaffirmed to ensure the enjoyment of this right by everyone, everywhere while upholding the human rights principles of universality and non-discrimination.” 

Mr. Boyd described the efforts of China, host of this year’s World Environment Day, to tackle air pollution, as a “success story.” Although the Chinese capital, Beijing, has become synonymous with dirty air over the past few decades, a concerted effort by local and regional authorities has seen an improved situation in recent years, with the concentration of fine particulates – the tiny, invisible airborne particles that are largely responsible for deaths and illnesses from air pollution – falling by a third. 

© UNICEF/Bindra

Vehicle emissions, diesel generators, the burning of biomass and garbage have all contributed to poor air quality in Lagos Lagoon in Nigeria. (file 2016)

The UN expert reiterated his recommended measures for reducing air pollution, contained in a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March. These include monitoring air quality and impacts on human health; assessing sources of air pollution; establishing air quality legislation; and developing air quality action plans. 

“In celebration of World Environment Day, I urge States to take bold action to beat air pollution, improve health, address climate change, and fulfill their human rights obligations,” the expert said. 

World Environment Day, celebrated since 1974, is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect the environment. It is organized around a theme that addresses a particularly pressing environmental concern. 

In a video message released ahead of the Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that, as well as claiming millions of lives every year, and damaging children’s development, many air pollutants are also causing global warming. Mr. Guterres called climate change an “existential threat,” and pressed the international community to “tax pollution, not people” and stop building coal plants.

The Government-led International Pledging Conference, which opened on Friday, wrapped up today in the coastal city of Beira, one of the areas worst hit by cyclones Idai and Kenneth, which struck this past March and April respectively, killing hundreds and impacting close to two million.

The post-disaster needs assessment carried out by the UN Development Program (UNDP), the European Union, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, estimated that Mozambique would need some $3.2 billion. dollars for post-cyclone reconstruction in affected areas.

Cyclone Kenneth made landfall on April 25 inflicting substantial damage to the economic and social life in the Cabo Delgado province. With maximum sustained wind speed of 225 km/hour and gusts that reached 270km/hour, the storm ripped off roofs and generated heavy rainfall resulting in massive flooding.

That disaster came as the country was still reeling less than two months after Cyclone Idai devastated central provinces, killing more than 600 people, unleashing a cholera epidemic, wiping out crops in the Mozambique’s breadbasket, forcing a million people to rely on food assistance to survive, and causing massive destruction of homes, schools and infrastructure in one of the world’s poorest countries.

Sending warm greetings to the Conference, Mr. Guterres said in a message that he was certain he shared with all a deep sense of distress at the loss of life, the devastation and the suffering caused by the deadly cyclones.

He reiterated his condolences and deep solidarity with the Government and the people of Mozambique, especially the communities most affected by these natural disasters.

“I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to all those who have contributed – and continue to do so – to alleviate the suffering of the people who have been deprived of their goods, houses, infrastructure and livelihoods,” said Mr. Guterres, noting that the UN and its humanitarian partners had been on the ground since the start of the crisis.

The world body’s support to the Government’s efforts included contributing to the coordination of international support; distributing food, drinking water and medicine; and providing shelter to those displaced.

But Mr. Guterres stressed that while the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocated $24 million to Mozambique, it was necessary to recognize that to face the scale of the disaster, large additional resources are needed.

“The means at our disposal are not at all enough. We face enormous challenges: people’s basic needs remain unmet; the risk of disease outbreaks is evident; and the negative impact on food security due to the loss of crops will be very significant,” he said in his message.

He also noted that in order to strengthen the response to the tragedy, the United Nations launched an emergency humanitarian appeal of $282 million, which remained deeply underfunded.

Against this background, Mr. Guterres reiterated his appeal to the generosity of the international community, saying “this is the moment to translate into concrete gestures our solidarity with a country affected by one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in African history – and which also warns us about the urgency of tackling climate change.”

UNDP actively supported the Conference, with policy and technical expertise, having provided assistance in recovery efforts from the very beginning. Going forward, UNDP said it would be working with all partners to advance recovery and help build resilience.

About 700 participants from international organizations, development partners, private sector and civil society organizations were expected to be present at the conference. Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi and several senior ministers also were expected to participate.