“I have 20 students in my class, and 13 of them are from herder families,” said Byamba, the fifth-grade teacher in a remote county of Mongolia, located more than 1000 km from the capital. This is a vast country, where nomadic herders are scattered through steppes and mountains, grazing their animals. Many herder children attend remote boarding schools.
COVID-19 threatens the health and nutrition of almost two billion people in Asia and the Pacific alone. The pandemic is devastating already fragile circumstances for billions worldwide. UN teams across the globe are aiding to address some fundamental challenges to people’s safety, and health and food security. Today, we highlight some of the coordinated efforts.
Candelario migrated to Costa Rica at the age of 90, and Juan Carlos did the same when he was 10 years old. They both arrived looking for opportunities to fulfill their dream of starting a better life. With the support of the State, the community and the United Nations, today they are achieving it in their own terms.
Since COVID-19 changed our world forever, expressions of alarm and fear have comingled with optimism and hope. Across our planet, our global community has adapted to new social norms, suffered extreme losses and braces for the medium to long-term impacts of a drastic economic crisis.
By the end of 2020, COVID-19 had killed nearly 2 million people and left many millions more with lasting injury. It also led to larger crises in health, jobs, education, domestic violence, migration, and more. That’s a lot of fires to put out. But the United Nations is built to deal with many challenges at once.
In his first major speech of the year, the UN Secretary-General underlined the need for global cooperation to address today’s challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
As the world wraps up 2020, we recognize the continued coordinated efforts of the UN teams worldwide. Today, we highlight some of the work taking place across the globe.
