The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine could possibly cause rare blood clots in some people but further studies are required to confirm the link, experts with the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. 

JAKARTA, Apr 07 (IPS) - Residents of Ngadirejo village in Sukaharjo regency, Central Java province, had often found themselves helpless when their wells dried up or water flooded through their homes. But thanks to a national campaign called Program Kampung Iklim, known by its acronym ProKlim, they now have solutions to this flooding that generally occurs because of a lack of adequate water catchments.

Despair is growing in Palestinian refugee camps across the Middle East, but signs of hope are sprouting amid ongoing occupation, economic hardship and the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the UN agency that supports this population reported on Wednesday.

Leaders across the world need to “move beyond platitudes” about young people, and deliver a better future for them all, Secretary-General António Guterres told the 10th Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum on Wednesday. 

The failure of Libya to investigate the unlawful arrest and torture of a women’s rights activist is a clear rights violation, the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), said on Wednesday.

More must be done to tackle online hate speech against minorities including the Roma and Sinti, who continue to be scapegoated for spreading the COVID-19 virus, a leading rights expert said on Wednesday.

LONDON, Apr 07 (IPS) - The UN is commemorating World Health Day April 7. This World Health Day, G20 finance ministers will meet in Rome, Italy, to discuss how they will build back from the pandemic. The global economy is and concerted effort, coordination and imagination is needed to enable not only a worldwide recovery but also to ensure that the world’s poorest people are not left behind.

Clashes between the Myanmar security forces and regional armed groups, which have involved military airstrikes, have reportedly claimed the lives of at least 17 civilians in several parts of the country, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Wednesday. 

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 07 (IPS) - The United Nations is commemorating World Health Day April 7.The past year has forced many of us to address difficult truths about how we treat and take care of each other — among them is a reckoning with racism and injustice.

Investing in equitable production and access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, is among five “vital changes” the world needs to make this year to address the inequalities the pandemic has exacerbated, the UN’s top health official said, marking World Health Day on Wednesday.