UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21 (IPS) - To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2063 aspirations, Africa requires an additional $1.3 - 1.6 trillion in financing.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21 (IPS) - Perhaps one of the UN's most ambitious and longstanding projects – the launching of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – is aimed, among other things, at helping developing nations eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. But that elusive goal has made little or no significant progress.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan 21 (IPS) - Corporate-dominated food systems are responsible for widespread but still spreading malnutrition and ill health. Poor diets worsen non-communicable diseases (NCDs), now costing over eight trillion dollars yearly!

When the plague, cholera and yellow fever rippled deadly waves across a newly industrialised and interconnected world in the mid-19th century, taking a global approach to health became an imperative. Doctors, scientists, presidents and prime ministers urgently convened the International Sanitary Conference in Paris in 1851, a precursor to what is now the largest of its kind: the World Health Organization, known as WHO.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued an alert on Tuesday over intensifying hostilities in the northeast in recent days.

The crisis in Gaza continues to remain acute, with UN humanitarians reporting critical shortages of water, food and efforts to deliver vital aid to the war-torn region. Meanwhile, escalating violence in the West Bank has further deepened concerns over civilian safety and access to assistance.

Africa tragically remains the epicentre of global terrorism, and more action is required to implement international commitments to combat this scourge, the UN Deputy Secretary-General told the Security Council on Tuesday.

As glaciers disappear at an alarming rate due to climate change, the UN General Assembly has declared 2025 the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation (IYGP).

A UN independent human rights expert on Tuesday called for an end to Russia’s severe crackdown on the legal profession, condemning the prison sentences handed down to three lawyers last week who defended the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Aid is entering Gaza “at scale” in line with the ceasefire agreement that has seen Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners released and families reunited, but massive needs remain across the devastated enclave, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.