JOHANNESBURG, Jul 26 (IPS) - Before COVID-19 came along, the two most lethal infectious diseases were HIV and tuberculosis (TB). Even though HIV still lingers, with 1.5 million people contracting the infection every year, epidemiologists point to the availability of many HIV prevention options as a primary reason for the decreasing caseload.

KARACHI, Jul 26 (IPS) - “Listen to your body, and if there is anything strange happening, do not ignore it,” is the advice of 57-year-old Afshan Bhurgri, a cancer survivor.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jul 26 (IPS) - The needs of Afghanistan’s children and families are immense. So are the efforts of those supporting them: teams of community workers made up of family members, teachers in community-based schools, vaccinators, and health workers working around the clock to bring life-saving services in the face of an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

Half of all children in Europe and Central Asia, 92 million, are exposed to high heatwave frequency, or double the global average, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday in a new policy brief.

The UN on Wednesday launched an initiative for accelerated transformation in food systems, with the Deputy Secretary-General highlighting key objectives to help get the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track.

Treatment remains out of reach for hundreds of thousands of children diagnosed with cancer in low and middle-income countries, severely limiting their chances of survival, the UN health agency said on Wednesday.

The recent wave of devastating Russian attacks targeting Odesa and other key Ukrainian port cities marks a “calamitous turn” in the 15-month war, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned an attempted power grab in the West African nation of Niger, following reports that the democratically elected president is being held by some of his own guards inside his official residence.

A new UN report raised concerns on Wednesday about the excessive use of smartphones, calling for them to be banned in schools worldwide. According to the UN's education, science and culture agency UNESCO, the over-use of mobile phones impacts learning.

After nearly two years of “political groundwork, fundraising, and project development”, in the words of UN chief António Guterres, the UN-led operation to avert environmental disaster in the Red Sea of the Yemeni coast, is fully underway.