"ETHIOPIA"

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General said today that COVID-19 remains a global health emergency, even though, as the world enters the fourth year of the pandemic, “there is no doubt we are in a far better situation now than we were a year ago, when the Omicron wave was at its peak.” WHO

WHO is launching its 2023 health emergency appeal today for US$ 2.54 billion to provide assistance to millions of people around the world facing health emergencies. The number of people in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost a quarter compared to 2022, to a record 339 million. WHO

A UN spokesperson said that humanitarian needs remain extremely high in parts of Afar and Amhara, Ethiopia, that were impacted by the conflict. UNIFEED

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

United Nations agencies are calling for urgent action to protect the most vulnerable children in the 15 countries hardest hit by an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis. WHO

Daily Press Briefing by the Spokesperson of the Secretary-General.

General Assembly adopts $3.4 billion programme budget for 2023, approves permanent shift to annual cycle, concluding main part of Seventy-Seventh Session.

From the war in Ukraine to the response in health crisis and providing life-saving humanitarian aid, the work of the United Nations remained vital in a year marked by multiple overlapping crises. UNIFEED

WHO’s Director-General said that 2022 has been another very challenging year, “the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic; a global outbreak of mpox; an Ebola outbreak in Uganda; wars in Ethiopia and Ukraine; cholera outbreaks in multiple countries; drought and flooding in the greater Horn of Africa and the Sahel; flooding in Pakistan; and numerous other health emergencies.” WHO

End-of-year press briefing by Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations.