Pneumonia is not a new emergency, it takes the lives of some 800,000 children each year, but this year’s COVID-19 pandemic makes it even more critical to stop the deadly infection, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Thursday. 

The UN Deputy Secretary-General is on a two-week solidarity visit to West Africa and the Sahel to underscore the Organization’s support to countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues evolving, the world must “take all opportunities to learn and improve the response as we go”, the UN health agency chief said on Friday.     

Globally, millions of children are at a heightened risk of polio and measles – dangerous but preventable diseases – amid disruptions to vital immunization programmes due to the coronavirus pandemic, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) have said.

Physical distancing, handwashing with soap, wearing masks: these are some of the most basic, recommendations for slowing the spread of COVID-19, but for many refugees, and other displaced people, they can be very difficult to follow.

The COVID-19 pandemic can be defeated through science, solutions and solidarity, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, underlining one of its core messages throughout the crisis. 

It is possible for countries to both protect public health and “ensure access” for vulnerable people forced to flee their homes, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General on Tuesday urged the Security Council to do more to encourage combatants across the world to put down their guns and focus instead on fighting “our common enemy” – the coronavirus.

Indiscriminate attacks on education and health facilities during armed conflict is having a “dramatic impact” on children and humanitarian personnel, the UN envoy for Children and Armed Conflict said on Monday.