FAR NORTH REGION, Cameroon, 11 September 2024(UNFPA)* -–As Djamila* clutched her pregnant belly, the floodwaters rose around her, threatening to engulf the fragile canoe she had escaped in.
A pregnant woman is stranded by her house amid recent flooding in Cameroon’s Far North region. Credit: UNFPA Cameroon / Samuel Sawalda
“The water was everywhere,” she told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. “I was so scared – not just for myself, but for my babies. Every minute felt like an eternity.”
At 18, this was her first pregnancy – and she was expecting twins.
(UN News)* — UN humanitarians are rushing to assist scores of newly displaced people in northeast Nigeria, after torrential rains caused a dam to collapse and flood the area, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday [].
Alau Dam, located just over 10 miles to the south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, collapsed in the middle of the night on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Over 18.6 million Yemenis, more than half of the total population, currently need humanitarian assistance. Many are living in collective sites or camps for displaced people.
Awareness session with Ali Fuad, a displaced person in Amran governorate, Kharef camp. Photo: NRC
12 September 2024 (Norwegian Refugee Council)* — In such sites, cholera, a disease that can be potentially fatal, poses a significant threat. Lack of access to clean water, proper latrines and health education all contribute to the spread of this disease.
(UN News)* — An atmosphere of desperation, extreme fear and trauma envelops the women of Sudan in a conflict that has left half of its 50-million-person population in dire need of assistance, according to Laila Baker, a senior regional director from the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA.
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UNFPA | Laila Baker, UNFPA Regional Director for Arab States, talks to a Sudanese displaced woman in Port Sudan.
5 September 2024 (UNEP)* —For billions of people across the developing world, particularly children and women, mealtime starts by firing up a kerosene stove, lighting a charcoal grill or setting some logs ablaze.
Credit: Robert Harding via AFP/Lee Frost
The problem: much of this cooking happens inside and the smoke it produces is laced with toxic particles. This type of household air pollution led to 3.1 million premature deaths in 2021 and is part of a larger crisis driving climate change and biodiversity loss.
05 September 2024 (WMO)* —A vicious cycle of climate change, wildfires and air pollution is having a spiralling negative impact on human health, ecosystems and agriculture, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
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The WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin includes a special focus on wildfires. It also looks at global and regional concentrations of particulate matter pollution and its harmful effects on crops in 2023.
Iceland´s glaciers are retreating so rapidly that future generations may wonder how the ancient island nation got its name. No surprise then that the land of the Vikings was chosen to house the world’s first global glacier graveyard which was unveiled at a ceremony last month, close to the capital Reykjavik.
(UN News)* — Sudan’s health system is “near collapse” after 16 months of war have left the country and its people facing what the UN’s top health official described on Sunday [] as the “perfect storm of crises”, which the world is largely ignoring.
5 September 2024 — The United Nations Security Council should mobilize to prevent further atrocities in Myanmar.The Council’s inaction over the last few months starkly contrasts with the clear warnings from senior UN officials who are urgently ringing alarm bells.