Many years ago, as a little girl, Heni Dwi Windarwati was out walking with her parents when a stranger approached them on the street. “He walked towards me, seemingly out of the blue, and kissed me on my forehead. I remembered not feeling scared because my parents did not react strongly to it,” she remembers. Her parents explained that the man had a severe mental health condition and did not mean any harm. Years later, this interest in mental health inspired her to get a doctorate in psychiatric nursing.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are perhaps the most ambitious undertaking for global peace and prosperity since the formation of the United Nations. Achieving the goals requires that the UN system work together within and across countries like never before.
You never know what crisis might strike, something that calls on the UN to act big and fast. If the world didn’t understand this before COVID-19, it does now. But an emergency can strike at any level.
United Nations country teams around the world continue to provide medical, logistical and socio-economic support to local authorities, coordinating resources to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Through stronger coordination, these teams are mobilising local, regional, and global partners to provide life-saving medical supplies to vulnerable communities, combat misinformation on vaccine efficacy, and ensure equitable distribution of vaccine through the COVAX programme.
Out of all children worldwide who die under the age of 5 years, half are in Africa. WHO, UNICEF and partners are working to reduce the number of childhood deaths and the agony that goes with them.
The pandemic has presented a complex set of challenges, especially for seniors like Marco Antonio. he To support the country’s seniors, the Chilean National Service for Older Persons (SENAMA) , created a national phone line 800-400-035, named FONO Mayor COVID-19.
For Sister Juliet Lithemba, the past year has been “nothing short of grace and mercy from above,” as she explains it. The 77-year-old resident of Mt Royal Convent of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, located in Lesotho’s Leribe district, didn’t know much about COVID-19 until her convent home and fellow sisters were infected by the deadly virus.
The United Nations has launched a $29.2 million global funding appeal to help those affected by the eruptions of the La Soufrière volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and other impacted countries.
When I met Akuvi Sossah, 52, mother of four, at a medical centre in a suburb of Lomé, the capital city of Togo, in early April, she proudly showed me the confirmation code that her son had helped her obtain after she registered on her mobile phone for COVID-19 vaccination.
Across the Caribbean, young women and single mothers are getting the support they need to weather the pandemic and achieve their potential. Here, we visit UN projects in Trinidad and Tobago and, further north, in Saint Lucia.
