News headlines in April 2022, page 15

As the coronavirus which causes COVID-19 continues to evolve, we cannot afford to ‘lose sight’ of the changes, the UN health agency said on Wednesday, warning that lower case numbers and deaths do not necessarily mean ‘lower risk’.

Apr 13 (IPS) - The United Nations Population Fund recently released the 2022 State of World Population report. It highlights that almost half of all pregnancies between 2015 and 2019 were unintended. That amounts to roughly 121 million unintended pregnancies each year.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has highlighted the need for “adequate safeguards” and vetting measures to be put in place against the possible exploitation of Ukrainian women, under the United Kingdom’s “Homes for Ukraine” scheme.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres presented the first detailed policy brief to be issued by the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance (GCRG), which he set up to study the effects of the war in Ukraine on the world’s most vulnerable. Here is a summary of the findings, and some of your key questions answered, on what the Group aims to achieve.

CAPETOWN, South Africa, Apr 13 (IPS) - Which country do you think best recognises the potential for changes to food systems to reduce emissions? Presumably a developed country, where agriculture is predominantly intensive, heavily subsidised and fuelled by fertilisers and irrigation, and where high consumption of animal proteins is the norm?

Nairobi, Kenya, Apr 13 (IPS) - Ahmed Bakari’s ill-fated journey to ‘greener pastures’ started with a social media private message from a stranger back in 2017. The message said an international NGO was recruiting teachers and translators to work in Somalia.

Millions of displaced families across eastern Africa will fall deeper into hunger as food rations dwindle due to humanitarian resources being stretched to the limit as the world grapples with a toxic cocktail of conflict, climate shocks, and COVID-19, UN humanitarians warned on Wednesday.

The fallout from the war in Ukraine could dramatically worsen the economic outlook for developing countries already grappling with debt financing related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN said in a report published on Tuesday. 

Colombia’s dynamic peace process – which saw fresh strides with the holding of a largely peaceful parliamentary election last month – will succeed or fail based on efforts to halt the deadly violence faced by former combatants, social leaders and human rights defenders, the senior UN official in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday. 

KIGALI, Apr 12 (IPS) - Climate change activist Mithika Mwenda, the Executive Director of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), is not reluctant to engage African governments to do what’s necessary to commit to post-COVID-19 green growth strategies.