The United States’ decision to halt future funding to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, will slash critical health services for women and girls worldwide, the agency warned on Friday.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that millions of people in West and Central Africa are facing record hunger as conflict, displacement, economic hardship and repeated extreme weather push the region towards a major crisis.

Costa Rica’s long-standing commitment to protecting refugees is under threat as severe funding cuts cripple support for surging numbers of Nicaraguan asylum seekers, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday.

Shattered by her husband’s death during the rising tide of gang violence in Haiti last year, Christiana and her six children fled 223 kilometres from their hometown to the city of Mirebalais, where her six-year-old daughter, Leineda, began treatment for malnutrition.

Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza would put civilian lives in danger and cause mass displacement while using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS, May 08 (IPS) - Following a series of brutal altercations in the communes of Mirebalais and Saut d’Eau in Haiti back in late March, local gangs have taken over both communes, spurring heightened displacement and insecurity. This is indicative of the continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Haiti as these armed gangs expand their control beyond Port-au-Prince.

KABUL, May 08 (IPS) - Rukhsar (pseudonym), 27, is a widow and sole breadwinner for a family of five. She recounts her life story under Taliban rule, a reality faced by thousands of women in Afghanistan.

KARACHI, Pakistan, May 08 (IPS) - Just after the young couple arrived at Al-Sayyed Shabistan, a quaint guesthouse in Taobat, on April 30, soldiers showed up, urging them to leave—war, they warned, could break out any moment.

An estimated 3,800 people have died as a result of the devastating earthquakes that struck Myanmar on 28 March. Six weeks on, the situation in Myanmar remains dire, with whole communities still traumatised and vulnerable.

The Security Council has extended the mandate of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) for another year, as the world’s youngest nation teeters on the brink of renewed conflict.