Health

The World Food Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund are urging Governments to prevent devastating nutrition and health consequences for the 370 million children missing out on school meals as a result of school closures.  The daily lunch at school is the only food for millions of children around the world.

Following an initiative by Jordan, 167 Member States and Permanent Observers have issued a statement of solidarity and appreciation to the City of New York in the midst of COVID-19.  New York City, the statement says, has been the home that has welcomed and nurtured collective action against global challenges.

The Secretary-General launched a new report highlighting the centrality of human rights to COVID-19 response and recovery alongside recommendations, saying the pandemic is fast becoming a human rights crisis exposing deep weaknesses in public service delivery that must be addressed.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in partnership with Ted-Ed, today launched an online “Earth School” offering free educational content for students, parents and teachers who are currently at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  Its videos, reading materials and activities will be translated into 10 languages.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is warning of life-threatening consequences if annual monsoon preparations cannot be completed.  A lockdown is in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, making supply delivery more challenging.

United Nations humanitarian agencies and their partners are asking donors for an initial $350 million to rapidly scale up logistics services, aimed at supporting countries disproportionately affected by cancelled flights and disrupted supply routes to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following is the text of UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s video message for the “One World:  Together at Home” concert, organized by Global Citizen, today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message for the “One World:  Together at Home” concert, organized by Global Citizen, today:

As military escalations and the onset of COVID-19 threaten to wipe out hard-won gains in Yemen, an opportunity has emerged to bring peace, Special Envoy Martin Griffiths told the Security Council in a 16 April videoconference meeting, stressing that there could be no better moment for parties to silence the guns.

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