News headlines in April 2021, page 7

The UN Secretary-General on Monday called on Asian and Pacific countries not to base their pandemic recovery strategies on “outdated and unsustainable economic models”, and to ensure that the world’s most populous region protects its environment and provides opportunities for all.

The UN Special Representative in Iraq expressed “shock and pain” on Sunday over a deadly accident that befell a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. 

A Rohingya refugee and volunteer for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has been telling UN News how his community has been “once again traumatized” as a result of a massive fire which swept through the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh in March, killing at least 11 people and making more than 45,000 homeless.

 Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple crises it has sparked, a growing number of countries are approaching and achieving malaria elimination, the UN chief said on Sunday, World Malaria Day. 

The global COVID-19 pandemic could provide “opportunities” to improve health care in Papua New Guinea (PNG) after the crisis is over, according to the United Nations’ most senior official in the southwestern Pacific Ocean nation.

Underscoring that the COVID-19 pandemic has been a “tragic reminder” of how deeply connected the world is today, the UN chief upheld in a message released for Saturday, the “clear and urgent need for concrete multilateral solutions”. 

Small island developing states (SIDS) must receive financial and international support if they are to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Munir Akram, said on Friday. 

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 23 (IPS) - Following almost two weeks of talks on issues such as climate change, innovation, marine conservation and social justice, thousands of young people from across the globe concluded the first-ever International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN)One Nature One Future Global Youth Summit with a list of demands for action on nature.

Although a landmark global collaboration has developed and delivered COVID-19 vaccines and diagnostics worldwide, critical funding shortfalls remain, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report published on Friday.   

Over one year into the COVID-19 pandemic and 90% of countries are still reporting one or more disruptions to essential health services. The findings of the second World Health Organization (WHO) “pulse survey” reveal that no substantial global change has been made since the first survey was conducted in the summer of 2020.