UN Health News

Cases and deaths resulting from COVID-19 continue to climb worldwide, mostly fuelled by the highly transmissible Delta variant, which has spread to 132 countries, said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major backsliding in childhood vaccinations, with 23 million children worldwide missing out on routine immunizations last year, two UN agencies reported on Wednesday.

With cases now doubling in Africa every three weeks, the Delta variant of COVID-19 has spread to 16 countries and it is present in three of the five nations reporting the highest caseloads. The variant is the most contagious yet - up to 60% more

Domestic workers globally have been among the hardest hit by the COVID crisis, losing more jobs and working hours than other sectors, the UN labour agency ILO said on Tuesday.

Drones are providing life-saving care to women in remote parts of the southern African country, Botswana, who otherwise may die in childbirth, thanks to support from the United Nations.

Although COVID-19 cases are declining in Brazil, the pandemic is putting decades of public health gains there at risk, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Addressing misinformation and countering vaccine hesitancy features prominently in a political declaration launched at the United Nations General Assembly, as countries pledged to “work together as one” to defeat the pandemic, and help people and the

Drug use among older people globally has risen in recent years and countries must act to address this “hidden epidemic”, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report, issued on Thursday.

The UN meteorological agency on Thursday cautioned that weather and climate conditions, including the onset of higher temperatures in the northern hemisphere spring, should not be used as a trigger to relax measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday the joint UN-led COVAX initiative aims to start shipping about 90 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa in February, in what will be the continent’s largest ever mass vaccination campaign.