Seeds and fertiliser for more than one million people are being distributed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in north-eastern Nigeria for the planting season that began in June, 2017. It is part of efforts, led by the Federal Government, to restore livelihoods and combat critical levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in areas affected by Boko Haram violence. ...

Santiago’s metro system – which transports approximately 2.4 million passengers each day – will become one of the first subways in the world to source most of its power needs from renewable energy. Next year, Latin America’s second largest subway system, will source 60 per cent of its energy from solar and wind projects. In a statement, Metro de Santiago said ...

The acceptance by President Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo of Ghana to chair the national High Level Inter-ministerial Committee on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been described as a move that has given the needed political backing to the implementation of the global goals in the country. And, to further demonstrate his commitment to this move, the President has ...

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has welcomed Achim Steiner as he begins a four-year term as Administrator of the organisation. Mr. Steiner’s appointment as the new head of the UN’s lead development agency was confirmed by the UN General Assembly last April, following his nomination by Secretary-General, António Guterres. The UNDP works in some 170 countries and territories across ...

Parliamentarians, policymakers, public and private investors, and representatives of civil society have discussed investing in the industrialisation process of developing countries, particularly in Africa. The event, organised by the Brussels office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), together with Global Africa and African Diaspora Network in Europe (ADNE), took place recently in St. Julian’s, Malta during the opening ...

African Champion, Cameroon, has crashed out of the current FIFA Confederation Cup in Russia, with a 1-3 loss to World Champion, Germany in the last Group A match. Timo Werner got a brace and Kerem Denirbay got the first, while Vincent Aboubakar got the consolation goal for the Cameroonians. In the last match played simultaneously, Chile and Australia played out ...

The deadly cholera outbreak in Yemen is the direct consequence of two years of heavy conflict, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have said. In a joint statement issued on Saturday, June 24, 2017, Anthony Lake, Executive Director of UNICEF and Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO stated that, due to the conflict,  collapsing health, ...

Nigeria is stepping out as the first country in Africa to roll-out a novel National Policy for Controlled Medicines (NPCM). Experts from diverse fields comprising pharmacists, anesthetists and surgeons, amongst others, gathered at a recent town hall meeting in Abuja to finalise a comprehensive policy framework to ensure availability of essential medicines, narcotics and painkillers for tertiary hospitals, primary health ...

The Governments of Palau, Thailand, Slovenia and Viet Nam have deposited their instruments of ratification, thereby becoming the 66th to 69th future Parties to the Minamata Convention. The depositions were made on Wednesday, June 21; Thursday, June 22; and Friday, June 23, 2017. While Palau deposited on Wednesday and Thailand on Thursday, both Slovenia and Viet Nam did likewise on ...

A newly released peer-reviewed paper appears to have drawn attention to environmental challenges associated with genetically-modified (GM) crops, as well as the gaps in scientific knowledge of their effects. GM crops are plants used in agriculture, the DNA of which has been modified using genetic engineering methods. In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the ...