World-renowned adventurer Holly Budge has launched the World Female Ranger Week (June 23-30th, 2022) to amplify the impact of female wildlife rangers on a global stage. This ground-breaking global awareness week, spearheaded by international NGO, How Many Elephants (HME) celebrates and supports female wildlife rangers – They’re bold, changing the game and paving the way for…
As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to surge across the world, the UN health agency on Tuesday said that it was crucial that more is done to help all countries receive lifesaving coronavirus jabs as quickly as possible. The development comes as a senior World Health Organization (WHO) epidemiologist repeated the agency’s message that…
By Joyce Mukucha The World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Ghebreyesus said a “tsunami” of Omicron and Delta COVID-19 cases will increase pressure on health systems that are already on the edge of collapsing and again disrupting lives and livelihoods. “The fast-moving omicron variant of COVID-19 is triggering a “tsunami of cases,” leaving health systems…
By Joyce Mukucha The United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres has urged countries across the globe to “commit to making 2022 a year of recovery for everyone.” In his message for the New Year , the UN chief called upon everyone to make recovery “for people, planet and prosperity” as the resolution for the…
By Joyce Mukucha The World Health Organisation (WHO) has yesterday announced the launch of a new Food Safety Community of Practice (COP) which is aimed at helping in the sharing of knowledge as well as improving practice. According to WHO, the Community of Practice is a new peer-to-peer online forum for global professionals working on…
By JoyceMukucha The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recently welcomed a $10 million contribution from the United States of America to its COVID-19 response efforts and to help counter other challenges that threaten human, animal and environmental health, including future pandemics. The contribution from the United States will benefit countries…
New report by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) has revealed an urgent need to invest in strengthening data systems to track newborn and child health and mortality in low- and middle-income countries, two thirds of which have had no reliable mortality data in the past three years. The latest…
By JoyceMukucha As the festive season has just started, the World Health Organisation (WHO); Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri Kluge has urged Europeans to remain vigilant against the spread of Covid-19 as they hang around with friends and family. Following that the European region was the epicentre of the pandemic even before the…
United Nations (UN) Women has in a statement highlighted that accelerating the use of data to inform policy and decision-making on violence against women will have a lasting impact on women and girls in East and Southern Africa (ESA). Representatives from national governments, regional bodies, international development agencies, and civil society organizations last week convened…
By Joyce Mukucha The President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid has bemoaned lack of vaccine equity and urged governments to unite and address this challenge with immediate effect. Ahead of a high-level event in the General Assembly on 13 January 2022 with the goal of ensuring equitable access and delivery of vaccines “to…
By Joyce Mukucha The Young Feminist Fund (FRIDA) has highlighted that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, to describe the year 2020 as ‘challenging’ would be an understatement. FRIDA pointed out that feminist communities across the world bore the brunt of a tumultuous year, which almost felt like an expansive desert with little flora, fauna and…
By Joyce Mukucha The Election Resource Centre (ERC) has joined the rest of the world in commemorating the International Day of Human Rights which is running under the theme: Equality: Reducing inequalities, advancing human rights. The day provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to review the state of democracy and human rights including electoral rights…
Despite significant progress since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 73 years ago, the COVID pandemic has “fed a frightening rise in inequalities”, and laid bare “many of our failures to consolidate the advances made”, said UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet, in a message marking Human Rights Day. She said…
By Joyce Mukucha A new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has revealed that plastic pollution is posing an even greater threat to food security, people’s health, and the environment. The report was presented this Tuesday at a virtual event in conjunction with World Soil Day. FAO’s Assessment of…
By Joyce Mukucha As the emergency of the new Omicron variant rattling countries around the globe with new cases surging in Southern Africa, and nations in the region trying to step up preparedness measures aimed at detecting and controlling its spread, it has been highlighted that lack of adequate vaccines was hindering Africa to reach…
By Joyce Mukucha The United Nations (UN) Women has recently announced that next year’s theme for the International Women’s Day(IWD) “Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow,” a theme which recognizes efforts being made by women and girls around the globe in mitigating climate change as well as building resilient lives and livelihoods. The theme for…
By Joyce Mukucha The continuous spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic associated with stiff measures by Governments, stay-at-home orders and self-quarantines, the society has been forced into increased technology use across all facets of life which include business, school, work, shopping among other aspects of their day-to-day lives. However, studies indicated that people with disabilities…
By Joyce Mukucha Following that the global community recently commemorated the World AIDS Day, a new report released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) revealed that “Myths and misconceptions” about HIV and AIDS continue to fuel stigma and discrimination at the workplace with nearly out of 10 people becoming not comfortable to work with colleagues…
By Joyce Mukucha Gender Based Violence (GBV) manifests differently in different regions of the world and no country is immune. The UN Women continue to emphasize that action should be taken in every single locality to elevate the status of women and girls and eradicate the pervasive violence against them. On a normal day in…
On the 30th anniversary of the campaign for 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, the UN refugee agency, (UNHCR), said one in five refugee or internally displaced women have faced sexual violence, and the situation continues to worsen globally. The UN agency said that there’s been a global surge in domestic violence, child marriages,…
By Joyce Mukucha A non-partisan national network of women’s rights organisations and activists striving for the rights of women and girls, Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) said the induced national lockdowns due to the global Covid-19 pandemic contribute hugely to the fuelling of gender-based violence (GBV). The organisation communicated this in their message to commemorate…
By Joyce Mukucha Today, the rest of the world joins hands with the United Nations in celebrating 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence from 25 November to 10 December 2021, under the global theme set by the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign: “Orange the World: End Violence against Women Now!” According to UN Women, nearly…
By Joyce Mukucha In the quest to address operational challenges of migration and ensure the provision of decent working conditions for all, human dignity, well-being and safety for labour migrants, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in partnership with the Government of Zimbabwe is implementing a project entitled “Strengthening Capacities for Labour Mobility Governance in…
By Joyce Mukucha The Minister of Sports, Arts and Recreation, Kirsty Coventry has appealed to the Government to increase the budget for sporting activities in the country. Speaking during the welcome ceremony for the 2021 International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in Harare yesterday, Minister Coventry made it clear to President Mnangagwa…
By Joyce Mukucha The unprecedented times brought by the global Covid-19 pandemic has caused African countries to struggle with limited access to vaccines to cater for their populations with the major reason being failure by the continent’ most nations to produce their own medicines. Meanwhile, many developing countries have not been able to deliver even…
By UN News With about 2.3 million people already suffering with serious water, food and pasture shortages in Somalia, a rapidly worsening drought could lead to an “extreme situation” by April next year. The warning comes from the United Nations and the Somali Government. Climate projections show that the country is facing a fourth consecutive…
Preterm birth is the leading cause of death in children under the age of five; each year, about 15 million babies worldwide are born prematurely, that is about 1 in 10 children, the African Neonatal Association in association with Paediatric Association of Zimbabwe revealed. In their joint statement for World Prematurity Day(WPD) which was celebrated…
By Joyce Mukucha Countries have been encouraged to continue making significant steps in tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to ensure that human, animal and plant antimicrobials are used responsibly and prudently as well as making sure they remain effective. This was communicated this Tuesday by various speakers during a World Health Organisation (WHO) in partnership with…
By Joyce Mukucha In an effort aimed at eliminating mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV and syphilis, dual test kits which cost less than $1, are now available for pregnant women, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced this Monday. The combo test to significantly increase access to innovative combined rapid testing for HIV and syphilis which…
By Joyce Mukucha Globally, the numbers of people affected by mental health condition are staggering and in Zimbabwe, effective treatment coverage remains extremely low with the global Covid-19 pandemic exacerbating the situation. This can be supported by World Bank(WB) which indicates that today, nearly one billion people live with a mental disorder and in low-income…
By Joyce Mukucha The trend in rising forced displacement continued into 2021 with global numbers now exceeding 84 million as more people fled violence, insecurity and the effects of climate change, according to the Mid-Year Trends report released today by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. The report for January-June 2021, indicated a surge from 82.4…
By Joyce Mukucha An estimated 240 million children globally are suffering from various disabilities, and experience deprivation in indicators such as health, education and protection. This is according to a new report released by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday. The report includes comparable data from 42 countries and covers more than 60 indicators…
By Joyce Mukucha Zimbabwe is set to host the International Conference of African Cultures (ICAC)2021 this November which is aimed at exploring the issues around restitution, return and repatriation of African cultural property held outside the continent. This was communicated by the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa during a post Cabinet…
By Muchaneta Chimuka The first ever, Conference on Geographical Indications (GI) under the AfrlPI project in collaboration with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) countries has kick started today (10 -12 Nov) with several representatives from different countries in Africa in attendance. The conference is aimed at unpacking issues to do with trade…
By Joyce Mukucha In an effort aimed at helping the government on the implimentation of the Montreal Protocol in Zimbabwe focusing on the major objective of gradual reduction and eventual elimination of man-made chemicals and substances production that deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) is tirelessly working…
By Joyce Mukucha Despite efforts governments are making in prioritizing public health measures to protect their people from climate impacts, many lack the funds to take effective action with a potential missed opportunity to identify and optimize the health benefits of adaptation and mitigation efforts in other sectors, said the 2021 World Health Organization (WHO)…
By Joyce Mukucha By the year 2030, an estimated 50 per cent of the world’s population that live in coastal areas will be exposed to extreme weather events such as flooding, storms and tsunamis, the United Nations(UN) has warned. Marking this year’s World Tsunami Awareness Day on the 4th of November 2021 against this background,…
By Joyce Mukucha The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has recently announced that the UN barometer of world food prices has surged to a new peak, reaching its highest level since July 2011. The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks the international prices of a basket of food commodities, is up 3.9 per cent from September, rising for a third consecutive month. According to FAO,…
By UN News The UN chief has joined the whole UN system in Sierra Leone in mourning the victims of an fuel tanker collision on Friday night in the capital Freetown, that reportedly left at least 98 people dead, and many more injured. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement issued by his Spokesperson…
By Joyce Mukucha recently in Chinhoyi Worldwide, the vulnerability of young people to drug abuse has in recent years become a major concern and Zimbabwe is not an exception. According to United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the consequences of widespread drug abuse and trafficking, particularly for young men and women, are all…
By Joyce Mukucha The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) and the United Nations (UN) have yesterday joined the rest of the global community in marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Ending impunity for crimes against journalists is one of the most pressing issues to guarantee freedom of expression and access…
By Muchaneta Chimuka The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Harare organized Pakistan-Africa and Zimbabwe Friendship Day to commemorate, honor and cherish the strong historical bonds between Pakistan and great continent of Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular. The event celebrated the rich African political heritage, cultural diversity and the continents immense…
By Joyce Mukucha The head of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) together with nine other international organisations have urged nations to urgently step up and take action to address the water-related consequences of climate change. The message was communicated in a correspondence which was issued last week and directed to world leaders ahead of the…
By Joyce Mukucha As a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the loss of working hours in 2021 will be significantly higher than previously estimated, as a two-speed recovery between developed and developing nations threatens the global economy as a whole, the International Labour Organization(ILO) has revealed. In its eighth edition of the ILO Monitor:…
By Muchaneta Chimuka PAKISTAN has called for the recognition of the Kashmir people who have been subjected to the Indian rule for over the past seven decades in Kashmir. Speaking during the Kashmir Black Day commemorations held at the Embassy of Pakistan in Harare on the 26th of October 2021, Embassy of Pakistan Charge de’…
