African women are 130 times more likely to die due to pregnancy or childbirth complications than women in Europe and Northern America, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) said in a new report published on Wednesday.

UN and partner agencies insisted on Wednesday that “critical changes” are needed to improve aid access into Gaza, as they launched a $2.8 billion appeal to provide urgent assistance for millions of people in the devastated enclave, but also in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been targeted by increasing settler violence.

Despite important achievements over the past decade to improve the well-being of Indigenous Peoples, safeguard their cultures, and expand their participation at the UN, “deep chasms” endure between commitments made and reality on the ground, the President of the General Assembly said on Wednesday. 

Despite facing formidable challenges, women-owned and run businesses in Afghanistan continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience, serving as vital pillars of economic stability and hope amidst adversity, a new UN report has found.

Nearly 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza since war erupted six months ago and one child is injured or dies every 10 minutes, UN agencies warned on Tuesday, amid spiralling violence in the West Bank and concerns over a regional escalation of the conflict following Iran’s missile and drone strike on Israel. 

Scaling up assistance in Gaza remains a challenge in the face of continued access denials, delays and other impediments, the head of the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories said on Tuesday. 

Dominica aims to become the world’s first “climate-resilient nation, and the indigenous Kalinago people are playing a leading role in developing the country and helping its people to thrive in the face of the climate emergency.

With the ‘promise of a better world’ in mind the UN Youth Office has launched an new advocacy campaign – “World Leaders: It’s Time to Let #YouthLead” – calling for greater youth representation in decision-making roles in both the public and private sector, civil society, academia, and the UN. 

As tensions worsen across the Middle East region, Yemen’s plight has become increasingly intertwined with wider geopolitical dynamics, the UN Special Envoy for the country said on Monday.

The Secretary-General and President of the General Assembly on Monday led the clarion call for urgent reform of the global financial system, notably how to approach debt relief on behalf of the billions of citizens living in the developing world.

The people of the Middle East are facing a real danger of a devastating full-scale conflict, António Guterres said on Sunday, urging “maximum restraint” across a region “on the brink”, hours after Iran launched attack drones and missiles against Israel overnight Saturday. 

People affected by gang wars in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, have been describing to the UN how their lives have been violently changed, with one person saying he feels that he has lost his identity and “no longer amounts to anything”.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the establishment of a transitional council in Haiti tasked with choosing new political leadership and setting up elections in the crisis-torn Carribean country.

Nigeria has become the first country to roll out a “revolutionary” five-in-one vaccine against meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement on Friday.  

Colombia has reached an “important juncture” in advancing peace after decades of war, but efforts to sustain the current momentum must be redoubled, the head of a UN mission in the country told the Security Council on Tuesday.

UN-coordinated food convoys are three times more likely to be denied access to north Gaza than other aid convoys, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, reported on Tuesday. 

The number of lives lost due to viral hepatitis infections is increasing and already accounts for 3,500 deaths daily, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) released on Tuesday.

At least 38 migrants - including women and children – died when their overcrowded boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the UN migration agency (IOM) reported on Tuesday.

Financing for sustainable development is at a crossroads and without urgent investment, global efforts to achieve a more just and equitable world by 2030 will fail, the UN deputy chief warned on Tuesday. 

The UN’s overriding mission in Gaza to ‘flood the place with food’ and avert famine, has moved forward this week thanks to Israel’s public pledge to increase the flow of aid, despite signs on Sunday that the feared invasion of Rafah is imminent.