"FLOODS"

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

On the last day of his visit to Cabo Verde, Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the Ocean Race Summit in Mindelo, saying that “ending the ocean emergency is a race we must win, and by working as one, it’s a race we can win.” UNIFEED

The number of reported disease outbreaks and climate-related health emergencies in the greater Horn Africa have reached their highest-ever level this century, deepening a health crisis in a region where 47 million people are already facing acute hunger. WHO

Actor Idris Elba tells world leaders that poor farmers need investment not handouts at award ceremony in Davos. IFAD

Close to 1 billion people in low- and lower-middle income countries - 1 in 8 of the world’s population –are served by health-care facilities that lack a reliable electricity supply, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll). WHO

The United Nations General Assembly, with support from the Governments of the Netherlands and Tajikistan, will convene the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York from 22 to 24 March 2023. UNIFEED

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that WHO still believes that COVID-19 deaths are "heavily underreported from China," reiterating the need for "doctors and those reporting to the public health system to be encouraged to report these cases and not discouraged.” WHO

Since June 2022, a combination of heavy rains and riverine, urban, and flash flooding has led to an unprecedented natural disaster in Pakistan. Floods have affected 33 million people, with more than 1,730 lives lost as well as 2 million housing units impacted, and several thousands of schools and hospitals damaged or destroyed. FILE

UN-led efforts to encourage the international community to stand with Pakistan after deadly floods last summer continued on Monday in Geneva, where Secretary-General António Guterres urged radical reform of the global financial system, in favour of developing countries. UNTV CH

At the International Conference on Climate-Resilient Pakistan, co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations, which took place today at the UN Office in Geneva, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for support to help Pakistan with a 16 billion US dollars rebuilding effort following devastating floods. UNTV CH