"From different doctors, particularly in the maternity hospitals, they're reporting that they're seeing a big rise in children born with low birth weight, and just not surviving the neonatal period because they're born too small," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said at a briefing in Geneva.

"Around 9,000 patients urgently need to be evacuated abroad for lifesaving health services, including treatment for cancer, injuries from bombardments, kidney dialysis and other chronic conditions," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X. It is is up from 8,000 in the WHO's previous assessment at the beginning of...

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said this week there were reasonable grounds to believe Israel was "committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinians as a group in Gaza". She said she had received "nothing that so far I have considered...

Damascus, Syria -- Visiting United Nations special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen urged Damascus Sunday to rejoin talks to revise the country's constitution, warning that political dialogue was going "in the wrong direction". Syria's war, which began 13 years ago with the repression of pro-democracy protests, has killed more than 500,000...

Geneva, Switzerland - A major new study released by The Lancet Neurology shows that, in 2021, more than 3 billion people worldwide were living with a neurological condition. The World Health Organization (WHO) contributed to the analysis of the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study (GBD) 2021 data. Neurological...

Geneva, Switzerland – The number of children who died before their fifth birthday has reached a historic low, dropping to 4.9 million in 2022, according to the latest estimates released today by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). “Behind these numbers lie the stories of...

Geneva, Switzerland - The war in Gaza has "ruptured any sense of a shared humanity," the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday. ICRC head Mirjana Spoljaric called for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza, saying Israel and Hamas must respect international law and protect civilians caught...

"The 2023 death toll represents a tragic increase of 20 percent compared to 2022, highlighting the urgent need for action to prevent further loss of life," the IOM said in a statement. Last year's total surpassed the previous record reached in 2016, when 8,084 people died during migration.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Scientists will work to channel the huge emerging power of quantum computers for the common good at a new institute opening in Geneva on Tuesday, its founders said. The Open Quantum Institute is calling on researchers from around the world to pinpoint the most promising future applications for...

Geneva, Switzerland - The pernicious "'great replacement' conspiracy theories" spreading in many countries are "delusional" and racist and are directly spurring violence, the United Nations rights chief warned on Monday. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk also took aim at the "war on woke", which he stressed was...

The UN and other humanitarian actors have not yet declared a state of famine in Gaza, despite worsening conditions in the Palestinian territory. However, "once a famine is declared, it is too late for too many people", said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

More than 750 others were injured after Israeli soldiers opened fire on civilians gathered at an aid distribution point in the Palestinian territory. The death toll from the "massacre" in Gaza City "rose to 104 martyrs and 760 injuries due to the bullets of the occupation forces that targeted a...

The set of rules will streamline authorization requirements and ease procedural hurdles faced by businesses, according to a press release. It will help reduce the costs of global services trade by more than $119 billion every year, it added.

Renault unveiled a new electric vehicle and its Scenic model won the Car of the Year award at the first Geneva auto show since 2019, giving a boost to the French automaker's electrification plans. The Renault Scenic, an electric SUV, won the coveted Car of the Year prize, the French...

The World Trade Organization's 13th ministerial conference (MC13), scheduled to run until Thursday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is the first in two years. The WTO is hoping for progress, particularly on fishing, agriculture and electronic commerce.

Geneva, Switzerland - The World Health Organization voiced alarm on Tuesday at the rapid spread of measles, with more than 306,000 cases reported worldwide last year -- a 79-percent increase from 2022. "We in the measles world are extremely concerned," said Natasha Crowcroft, a WHO technical adviser on measles and rubella....

Geneva, Switzerland - The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it had transferred 32 patients out of the besieged Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza but feared for the patients and medics still inside. WHO staff said the scenes around the hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis were "indescribable", while...

Geneva, Switzerland - Israel is waging a concerted campaign aimed at destroying UNRWA, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in an interview published on Saturday. Philippe Lazzarini said calls for his resignation were part of the Israeli government's push. "Right now we are dealing with an expanded,...

In a telephone call that saw Macron toughen his tone, the French leader expressed France's "firm opposition" to an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying it "could only lead to a humanitarian disaster of a new magnitude" and create a new risk of regional escalation, according...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Acting WHO Representative in Sudan Peter Graaff has said that the humanitarian and health crisis in the African country is alarming. The conflict that started 10 months ago has spread to new areas, resulting in widespread displacement of civilians, some of whom have been forced to move...

Geneva, Switzerland - The number of new cancer cases will rise to more than 35 million in 2050 -- 77 percent higher than the figure in 2022, the World Health Organization's cancer agency warned Thursday. The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited tobacco, alcohol, obesity and air pollution...

Geneva, Switzerland - The World Health Organization said on Monday that nearly half the world's population was now covered by solid rules limiting trans fat in foods and urged lagging countries to catch up. The WHO appealed in 2018 for industrially produced fatty acids in foods to be eliminated worldwide by...

"WHO refutes Israel's accusation at the executive board meeting yesterday that WHO is in 'collusion' with Hamas and is 'turning a blind eye' to the suffering of hostages being held in Gaza," WHO chief Tedros said on X. "Such false claims are harmful and can endanger our staff who are...

Thousands of Gazan men may have been detained by Israeli forces since war erupted on October 7, often facing conditions that could amount to torture, the UN's human rights representative in the Palestinian territories said. Some of those released have reported being blindfolded, beaten and ultimately freed wearing only diapers,...

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has been targeted with a criminal complaint during a visit to Switzerland, Swiss prosecutors said, amid allegations of crimes against humanity over the war in Gaza. The Federal Prosecutor's Office (BA) confirmed that it had received a criminal complaint against the Israeli president, who was in...

Geneva, Switzerland - Generative artificial intelligence could transform healthcare through things like drug development and more rapid diagnoses, but the World Health Organization stressed on Thursday more attention should be paid to the risks. The WHO has been examining the potential dangers and benefits posed by AI large multi-modal models (LMMs),...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND -  The head of the World Trade Organization's fisheries talks voiced optimism  on Tuesday about striking an agreement on limiting subsidies blamed for overcapacity and overfishing. The 164 WTO members kicked off a month of negotiations this week at the global trade body's headquarters in Geneva. Iceland's ambassador Einar...

"Remember Ukraine?" UN aid chief Martin Griffiths asked as he launched the plan in Geneva. "Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world which grab our attention." "As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more," he acknowledged, citing...

"Delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza continues to face nearly insurmountable challenges," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference. "Intense bombardment, restrictions on movement, fuel shortages, and interrupted communications make it impossible for WHO and our partners to reach those in need."

Geneva, Switzerland - The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2024 is set to gather over 2,800 global leaders in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, from January 15-19, with the overarching theme of "Rebuilding Trust." Against a backdrop of increasing division and uncertainty worldwide, the forum aims to foster dialogue, enhance collaboration, and forge...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for November 2023 global air cargo markets indicating the strongest year-on-year growth in roughly two years. This is partly due to weakness in November 2022, but also reflects a fourth consecutive month of strengthening demand for air cargo. Global...

A report released Thursday demanded an immediate end to the use of military weapons and means during law enforcement operations, an end to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Palestinians, and the lifting of discriminatory movement restrictions. "The use of military tactics and weapons in law enforcement contexts, the use of...

Geneva, Switzerland - The head of the WHO said on Tuesday the world needs to properly prepare for future pandemics after finally ending three years of Covid "crisis, pain and loss." In his end-of-year message, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 2023 had marked a turning point in fighting...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor documented, in a preliminary file submitted to UN special rapporteurs and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, dozens of field executions cases carried out by the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. It also called for immediate investigation to hold the...

Geneva, Switzerland - Gaza is "the most dangerous place in the world" for a child, the UN children's agency spokesperson said Tuesday, expressing his rage at the situation there after returning from the Palestinian territory. "I'm furious that those with power shrug at the humanitarian nightmares unleashed on a million children,"...

Filippo Grandi, head of the UN refugee agency, warned Wednesday that pushing Gazans across the frontier would be "extremely destabilizing for Egypt". "It's very important to insist that this evacuation of people beyond (the border) must not be promoted, must not be advanced, forced," the UNHCR chief told journalists in...

Tehran, Iran-- Saudi Arabia and Iran's foreign ministers have stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and sending humanitarian aid into the besieged enclave. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan discussed bilateral relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the latest developments...

The chief of WHO said the convoy was stopped twice at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint on the way to northern Gaza and on the way back, adding that some Palestinian Red Crescent staff were detained both times and questioned for several hours.

The medical charity's international president, who recently returned from the West Bank, said that since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7, there had been a "clear shift" in the injuries being witnessed by MSF staff in West Bank hospitals.

"Some 4.7 billion people are expected to travel in 2024, an historic high that exceeds the pre-pandemic level of 4.5 billion recorded in 2019," IATA said in its traditional review of industry trends as the year draws to a close.

"The so-called safe zones... are not scientific, they are not rational, they are not possible, and I think the authorities are aware of this," James Elder, spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF, told reporters in Geneva.

Geneva, Switzerland - The UN human rights chief on Thursday decried serious allegations of international law violations in the Israel-Hamas war and suggested an international investigation was needed. Volker Turk said "extremely serious allegations of multiple and profound breaches of international humanitarian law, whoever commits them, demand rigorous investigation and full...

"The amount of humanitarian aid sent to Gaza is very small and almost zero, and it is necessary for the United Nations to take immediate and serious action in this regard," Amir-Abdollahian said in a meeting in Geneva with UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths.

In Geneva, the second-largest UN headquarters after New York, the UN flag on Monday flew at half-mast and none of the other flags of the 193 member countries were hoisted along the main alley of the compound.

The Red Cross called for medical facilities and workers in war-ravaged Gaza to be protected, warning the health system there had "reached a point of no return". The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its teams in recent days had distributed critical supplies to medical structures across...

Geneva, Switzerland - The El Nino weather phenomenon, which triggers higher global temperatures, is expected to last until at least April 2024, the United Nations said on Wednesday. El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the...

The UN called for an overhaul of the global financial system to help the world's poorest countries and their struggle to fill "enormous financial gaps". A report from UNCTAD highlighted how multiple crises, from the Covid pandemic to soaring inflation, and declining foreign direct investment have hit poorer countries particularly...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - Global patenting activity soared to new records in 2022, fueled by Indian and Chinese innovators, but an uncertain economic outlook is weighing on further growth, says the World Intellectual Property Organization report. Even as global filings for trademarks and designs dropped, innovators from around the world submitted...

The UN human rights chief said that he was absolutely "disgusted" by the "sharp rise in hatred globally" since the war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7. Volker Turk strongly deplored the surge in cases of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other hate-speech, both online and offline.

The United Nations said it was concerned that war crimes were being committed on both sides in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The UN human rights office cited forcible transfer, collective punishment and the taking of hostages as the war continued into its 21st day.