UN Interviews

Although African countries are collecting substantial data around health, how it is used remains a challenge. This information is crucial for decision-making, such as determining how many vaccines to purchase to protect children against disease, or how many nurses are needed in a particular region. To address this, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners have convened the first African He...

Resurgent violence in northern Mozambique has forced more than 7,000 mainly women and children from their homes in recent weeks. Non-state armed groups are behind the emergency in Cabo Delgado province, which now hosts more than 205,000 displaced people across 84 sites. The UN International Organization for Migration, IOM, is providing emergency and longer-term assistance to the most vulnerable in...

Every culture has its own textile, from hand-knitted sweaters to ceremonial weaving. A new initiative called Fashion Diplomacy wants to use that heritage to bring countries closer together, and to help make traditional craft pay for the people who keep it alive. It was launched during the 81st UN General Assembly in New York in September at the SDG Media Zone, a venue for the discussion of sustain...

Current AI models are exposing women and girls to new forms of abuse and reinforcing their marginalisation: 98 per cent of deepfakes are sexualised images, 99 per cent of which target women. Meanwhile, 70 per cent of women in public life experience online violence, driving nearly half to self-censor. Despite AI increasingly dominating headlines, its development is seldom analysed through a gender...

Nearly six months after it was declared, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has spread to eight provinces in the east and northeast, infecting more than 10,500 people and killing about half of them. The World Health Organization (WHO) is working with DRC authorities and other UN agencies on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and community awareness. This week, two new v...

Football is the world's most popular sport, and its reach is not in doubt. The question is what the game does with it. At the SDG Media Zone during the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, three voices from football took on that question. Former England international Eni Aluko is a Champion of Football for the Goals, a UN initiative that unites around 480 football organizations in support...

Six million refugee children are unable to go to school around the world, with serious repercussions for themselves, their families and their communities. At the UN General Assembly’s SDG Media Zone, UN Goodwill Ambassador Mary Maker and UN refugee agency (UNHCR) chief Barham Salih – both of whom grew up in refugee camps – discussed the barriers refugee children face in accessing education and wha...

New York is looking beyond disaster recovery following a deadly superstorm 14 years ago towards making sure people living in the US city are protected from future extreme weather events. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy, which was downgraded to a superstorm once it hit New York, led to the deaths of 44 people and caused damage totaling $20 billion. Since then, authorities have launched a huge infrastructu...

Kenya recorded its first case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus when a local man who had been working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) flew back to the country via Uganda on 3 October and died two days later. More than 100 people who came into contact with him - from family members to airport workers - were placed in quarantine for 21 days. This weekend, some will get to go home. For more on...

Continuing disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and crucial Red Sea routes are driving up freight and fuel costs, putting further pressure on food supply chains – particularly in developing countries – UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) warns. Fertilizer prices have also swung sharply ahead of planting seasons. Higher costs could cut harvests, especially where farmers can’t afford e...

With winter rains already beginning in Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced people face the prospect of flooding in overcrowded camps and makeshift shelters. Families are improvising with whatever materials they can find, as humanitarian agencies on the ground warn that available supplies are woefully inadequate. Speaking to UN News’ Ezzat El-Ferri from Amman, Karl Baker, regional crisis coord...

Kenya has recorded its second case of Ebola – a family member of the first person in the country to die from the disease. The good news is that the man was already under quarantine and is receiving treatment, having been identified through contact tracing. That’s according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative to Kenya, Dr. Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo, who spoke to UN News’s Diann...

The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the Kenyan Government to strengthen measures to control any potential outbreak, following the country’s first case and death from the rare but often fatal disease. WHO Representative in Kenya, Dr. Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo, says no other infections have been recorded since the case was confirmed on Tuesday. She told UN News’s Alban Mendes de Leon...

Syria is building new State institutions and pushing its political transition forward, but recovery, inclusive representation and transitional justice remain major hurdles, according to the UN Deputy Special Envoy for Syria. Speaking to UN News’ Khaled Haridy during the General Assembly’s High-Level Week, Claudio Cordone said a People’s Assembly is now in place, with an electoral commission and pe...

Every day, more than a billion meals are thrown away, and this rotting food produces the greenhouse gas methane which is responsible for around a third of global emissions overall. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that food waste and loss threaten food security, forests and sustainable agrifood systems in a world where millions are still going hungry. UN News’s Dianne Penn in Nairobi spok...

The full-scale Russian invasion is placing immense pressure on healthcare across Ukraine, limiting people’s access to essential services and damaging medical facilities. That’s according to Halyna Skipalska, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health, which receives support from the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA. Ms. Skipalska was at Headquarters this week and spoke to...

The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan, Pekka Haavisto, says intensified diplomatic efforts are offering cautious grounds for hope, despite the continued fighting between rival militaries – and complexity of the brutal conflict. Speaking to UN News on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Mr. Haavisto said while military leaders in Khartoum and senior RSF militia are n...

Food insecurity in Sudan could worsen sharply in the coming months as conflict and displacement are compounded by the effects of the El Niño weather pattern, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Friday. With rainfall forecast to decline by up to 40 per cent in parts of the country, FAO is urging donors to fund proven measures that can protect livelihoods and boost food producti...

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes society, actor and UN Global Advocate for Human-centric Digital Governance Joseph Gordon-Levitt is calling for stronger rules to ensure the technology remains accountable to people. Mr. Gordon-Levitt’s role is affiliated with the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) / UN DESA, which brings together diverse voices to help shape a more inclusive and human-ce...

For over eight decades, the UN General Assembly has served as the world’s most representative forum, bringing nations together to debate some of the defining challenges of the day. When it was founded in 1945, the architects of the UN expected the Security Council to be at the centre of global decision-making. But Cold War tensions soon sowed division – shifting much of the political debate to the...

Rapid advances in technology are fundamentally changing the global crime landscape, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). As its newly-appointed Executive Director, Monica Juma is heading to the 15th UN Crime Congress, taking place in Abu Dhabi from 26 September through 1 October, for the first time in charge of the key agency. In an interview with UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri in Vien...

Yemen's decade-long conflict between Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces has dangerously escalated over the past week, reaching a new peak after months of rising tensions. An estimated 46,000 people have been displaced since fighting resumed just over a week ago, with numbers expected to rise further as the situation continues to change "by the hour". Houthi fight...

Two weeks after a glacier collapse triggered devastating floods in northern Nepal, entire communities remain cut off, homes lie buried under tonnes of rubble, and families are still waiting for news of loved ones. According to latest figures from the UN humanitarian affairs office, 1,267 people have died and some 5,132 remain missing, while the UN estimates the disaster created at least 2.2 millio...

As a new school year begins, classrooms are reopening and children are returning to their studies – but that’s not the case for many young Palestinians. For many in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, schools run by the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, have provided a pathway to opportunity for generations, with some 2.5 million students graduating. However, financial constraints and conflict...

Despite increasingly difficult conditions, the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, continues to operate on the ground, remaining a vital lifeline and providing education, healthcare, humanitarian aid and social protection in Gaza and the West Bank. Roland Friedrich, director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, spoke to UN News’ Reem Abaza and stressed that the issue goes beyond the agen...