"PANDEMIC"

Upon his return from Afghanistan, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director, Omar Abdi told journalists in New York that the country’s children, “those least responsible” for the current crisis “are paying the highest price.” UNIFEED

World Food Day 2021 celebrations began on 15 October 2021, with a global event where participants noted that while the challenges of global hunger, climate crisis and COVID-19 remain formidable, there is also a new momentum and energy behind efforts to transform our agri-food systems, making them more fit for purpose. FAO

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Director-General, QU Dongyu, and the FAO Goodwill Ambassador, European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, made a joint call to support the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems to ensure enough affordable, nutritious, safe and sustainably produced food for all on the planet. FAO

The IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and Magdalena Andersson, the chair of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the body that supervises the IMF’s work, held a press briefing Thursday where Andersson encouraged the multilateral leaders task force to accelerate access to vaccines and to facilitate coordination among international partners, which includes mobilizing critical financing. IMF

In his address to the second United Nations Global Sustainable Transport Conference, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the “door is closing for action on climate, nature and pollution,” and stressed the need to “decarbonize all means of transport, in order to get to net-zero emissions by 2050 globally.” UNIFEED

Members of the International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC) are meeting in Washington, DC Thursday. IMF

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2021 Global Tuberculosis Report showed that the COVID-19 pandemic “severely impacted our fight against tuberculosis,” with TB deaths increasing for the first time in a decade. WHO

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

The three-day UN Sustainable Transport Conference examines how transportation can contribute to climate response, economic growth and sustainable development.

The IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced in her virtual press briefing on the Global Policy Agenda that more uncertainty in supply chain disruptions and inflation prospects, along with elevated debt levels and a persistent economic divergence are what lies ahead. IMF