"I am vaccinated. I am protected. I protect others. " That's the message you can read on the vaccination record card Machad, a health worker in Benin, received. Machad is proud to be among the first to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Every Thursday, Jennifer Barros goes to Rondon 3, a refugee camp in northern Brazil near the border of Venezuela. The camp hosts 844 Venezuelan refugees and migrants, and Jennifer teaches Portuguese there. Kaleth Colmenares, 12, is always waiting for Jennifer at school. Last February he started attending a Brazilian public school and was still adapting to the new language when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now, once a week, he gets tutoring sessions in several subjects, not least of all Portuguese.
Deliveries of the COVAX-backed vaccines are arriving every day across the world. These deliveries symbolize a road to recovery. Those on the frontline of the pandemic share their excitement with us.
Anong is 20 years old. She suffered serious health issues and anxiety due to the COVID-19 crisis. “I was living with a man, and things were not easy. He was forcing me to have intimate relations,” she says. “After the lockdown, he was seeing someone else while being with me. I was silent and accepted my situation. I was not protected and contracted a sexually transmitted infection.”
The effective participation of women and equal leadership opportunities are recognized globally as key drivers to achieving sustainable development. Although much progress has been made to increase women’s representation in all areas of public life since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), change has been incremental and slow. Gender equality and women’s full and equal participation in all areas of life, especially decision-making, are integral to the Decade of Action and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
COVAX has been trending in stories about the COVID-19 pandemic in recent days, particularly in relation to the shipment of vaccines to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the first to arrive in Africa. Here’s a UN News recap of what COVAX is, and why it is so important.
One full year into the COVID-19 pandemic, our world has faced a tsunami of suffering. So many lives have been lost. Economies have been upended and societies left reeling. The most vulnerable have suffered the most. Those left behind are being left even further behind.
As the National Emergency Medical Services Referral Coordinator in the capital city of Freetown, Lt. Moiwo has to juggle national ambulance services, clinicians at hospitals, treatment centres and isolation units, and psychosocial assistance for patients and their families. She also disseminates test results and updates a national database on COVID-19.
In 2021, International Women's Day falls at a time of extraordinary hardship for the people of Syria. This week will mark the tenth anniversary of a crisis which has caused unfathomable loss and driven widespread and growing humanitarian needs across the country.
