"AFRICA"

As World AIDS Day approaches, UNAIDS urges governments to empower grassroots communities worldwide to lead the fight to end AIDS. A new report by UNAIDS, Let Communities Lead, shows that AIDS can be ended as a public health threat by 2030, but only if communities on the frontlines get the full support they need from governments and donors. UNAIDS

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) delivered desperately needed food to more than 120,000 people in Gaza during the initial pause in fighting but reiterated that the supplies it was able to provide were woefully inadequate to address the level of hunger seen by staff in the UN shelters and communities. WFP

The Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said, “Looking ahead, it would be impossible to envision free, fair, and credible elections in December 2024, unless all South Sudanese parties, leaders, and stakeholders grab the bull by the horns, and agree on a critical mass of decisions by the first quarter of 2024.” UNMISS

Chad is host to more than one million refugees - one of the largest and fastest-growing refugee populations in Africa. The recent conflict in neighbouring Sudan has driven hundreds of thousands more across the border. WFP

Shipments of the world’s first WHO-recommended malaria vaccine, RTS,S, have begun with 331,200 doses landing in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The delivery is the first to a country not previously involved in the malaria vaccine pilot programme and signals that scale-up of vaccination against malaria across the highest-risk areas on the African continent will begin shortly. UNICEF

Today marks the admission of the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) bonds on the LSE’s Sustainable Bond Market and the first time a United Nations Fund and specialized agency has listed its sustainable bond on the LSE market since the World Bank Group. IFAD

Wrapping up her second visit to the Horn of Africa country, the Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Somalia highlighted the interlinkages of human rights and other developments in the country. UNSOM

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

The Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, said that hostilities have intensified in recent weeks in Sudan. UNIFEED

A World Food Program spokesperson said that nearly the entire population of Gaza now needs food assistance. UNIFEED