12 October 2017 – Stressing the damaging impact on poor rural communities in Africa and South-East Asia of animal tuberculosis’ (bovine TB) transmission to humans, United Nations health experts launched the first-ever roadmap to combat the so-called zoonotic TB.

“We have made progress towards ending tuberculosis, yet to a large extent people with zoonotic TB are left behind,” said Mario Raviglione, Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global TB Programme, in a news statement.

Today, at the 48th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Guadalajara, Mexico, WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, who have joined forces to develop the Roadmap for Zoonotic TB, launched the initiative – addressing the major health and economic impacts of this disease.

“The priorities outlined in this roadmap highlight the need for multi-sectoral action to tackle this neglected form of TB and achieve the targets of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WHO’s End TB Strategy,” said Mr Raviglione.

New data released by WHO estimates that over 140,000 people fall ill and more than 12,000 people lose their lives each year to zoonotic TB, which is most often communicated to humans through food consumption, usually non-heat-treated dairy products or raw or improperly cooked meat from diseased animals. Direct transmission from infected animals or animal products to people can also occur.

“We must recognize the interdependence of the health of people and animals in the fight against TB. Specifically, bovine TB, caused by Mycobacterium bovis, affects cattle, threatens people’s livelihoods and results in major economic and trade barriers, as well as posing a major risk to food safety and human health,” said Berhe Tekola, Director of the FAO Animal Production and Health Division.

The advanced laboratory tools required to diagnose zoonotic TB are frequently unavailable and the disease is resistant to pyrazinamide – one of the standard first-line medications used to treat TB. Therefore, patients are often misdiagnosed and may receive ineffective treatment.

The roadmap articulates 10 priority actions that human and animal health actors should take, and defines milestones for the short- and medium-term, which include improving the evidence base; reducing transmission between animals and humans; and strengthening intersectoral collaboration.

Zoonotic TB extends beyond human health

Bovine TB also threatens animal welfare and those with livestock-based livelihoods.

Economically, the disease can devastate cattle production with losses related to animal production, markets and trade, as well as costs incurred to implement surveillance and control programmes. To eliminate it, domestic livestock found to be infected with bovine TB must be slaughtered under veterinary supervision.

Wealthier countries are affected as well.

In the US between 2000 and 2008, more than $200 million in emergency funding was required to respond to bovine TB outbreaks. Wildlife can also be infected, serving as a reservoir of infection for livestock and people, potentially threatening conservation efforts.

12 October 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has congratulated by phone Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, on the intra-Palestinian agreement, signed earlier Thursday in Cairo.

According to a readout of a telephone call issued by a UN spokesperson, Mr. Guterres said he was encouraged by the recent progress in allowing the Palestinian Government to take up its responsibilities in Gaza and welcomed Egypt’s efforts to achieve this goal.

He emphasized the continuing need to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly with regard to the electricity crisis, and improved access to and from the territory.

The Secretary-General also reiterated that the UN stands ready to continue working with Palestinian authorities and the region to support the Government in assuming its responsibilities in Gaza.

The readout of the Secretary-General’s phone call comes as media outlets are reporting that Egyptian-facilitated talks in Cairo have led to a breakthrough in the talks among Palestinian parties on administration in the Gaza Strip.

12 October 2017 – New latrines will be constructed in the Rohingya camps and settlements of Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district to provide sanitation coverage to some 250,000 people, averting a major disease outbreak, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported Thursday.

UNICEF and the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief of Bangladesh agreed that the Bangladesh Armed Forces Division will construct 10,000 latrines in Cox’s Bazar as quickly as possible at a total cost of $1.5 million.

“There are already reports of water-borne diseases from the health centres in the camps,” said Edouard Beigbeder, the UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh, who signed a work plan with Joint Secretary Muhammad Habibul Kabir Chowdhury Wednesday at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.

“Disease outbreak is a real and present danger for the camp dwellers and host population. We immediately need to step up sanitation coverage there,” added Mr. Beigbeder.

UNICEF will contribute financial as well as technical support to the ministry in this public health undertaking, including through it water, sanitation and hygiene sector partners, which will provide locations for each set of 5-rings model latrines.

The latrines, at an estimated cost of $147 each, will also be regularly disinfected through spraying chlorine solution so that these do not become sources of contamination.

UNICEF, the Department of Public Health and Engineering, and water and sanitation sector partners are also implementing an accelerated programme of building latrines for the refugees in the camps in two sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar district.

In related news, on 10 October, UNICEF and its health sector partners launched a massive oral cholera vaccination campaign for 650,000 people in Ukhiya and Teknaf sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar – mobilizing 900,000 doses of cholera vaccines to protect newly arrived Rohingyas and the host community from a cholera outbreak.

12 October 2017 – The total number of persons that suffer from hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean has increased, reversing decades of progress, even as overweight and obesity emerged as a major problem in all countries in the region of the Americas, a United Nations-backed report shows.

“The region has taken a significant step backwards in a fight that it was winning,” Julio Berdegué, Regional Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said Thursday. “We cannot tolerate the current levels of hunger and obesity, as they will paralyze an entire generation.”

Hunger rates have declined in 21 of the 27 countries of the region in recent years, but the absolute number of people suffering from hunger increased, according to the report published by FAO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

In 2016, some 42.5 million people in the region did not have enough food for their daily caloric needs, a six per cent increase, or 2.4 million additional undernourished people.

“It will be very difficult for the region to reach Sustainable Development Goal 2 on eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2030” if this trend does not change, said Mr. Berdegué.

Only a few decades ago, governments of the region joined forces to fight against acute malnutrition, chronic malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency. Today they must also fight against overweight and obesity.

“The region faces a double burden of malnutrition,” said PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne.

Overweight and obesity continue to affect all age groups

Overweight and obesity is a public health problem in all countries of the Americas, affecting all age groups.

Some 7.5 per cent of those under the age of five in South America, or 2.5 million children, suffer from overweight and obesity, as do six per cent of the children in Central America and 6.9 per cent of those in the Caribbean. The rate increases with age, affecting a third of the adolescents and two thirds of the adults in the region, with women being the most affected.

The problem is growing in scale to catch up with the region’s 11 per cent rate of child stunting due to chronic malnutrition.

12 October 2017 – The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH, will close on 15 October 2017, replaced with a smaller group of police and civilian officers who will help the Government to strengthen rule of law and security in the Caribbean country.

The departure of the more than 2,300 peacekeepers was approved by the Security Council, which decided in April that the mission needs to change as the country’s political situation has changed.

During its 13 years, MINUSTAH peacekeepers saved tens of thousands of lives, and helped the country to rebuild, including from an earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people and claimed the lives of 102 UN personnel – the single greatest loss of UN lives in history.

As MINUSTAH wraps up, take a look at its lasting contributions to Haiti, its people and its Government.

MINUSTAH was established in 2004 in response to the deteriorating political and security situation in Haiti. The mission was mandated to ensure a secure and stable environment within which the constitutional and political processes could take place. Pictured, amid gunfire, a Brazilian military contingent in October 2004 secures the port near the slum area of La Saline.

An earthquake hit Haiti on 12 January 2010, killing some 250,000 people, including 102 UN staff. In the wake of the earthquake, UN peacekeepers – who also lost their homes and colleagues – refocused their efforts to support Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction. Above, a first aid station set up by UN peacekeepers shortly after the earthquake.

A member of MINUSTAH’s civilian policing (CIVPOL) unit patrolling the neighbourhood of Bel-Aire on foot, assisted by the Haitian National Police, in December 2014. MINUSTAH helped to restore Haitian National Police control of many neighbourhoods around the capital, Port-au-Prince, once controlled by gangs.

The UN Mission has provided technical and security support to electoral processes since 2004. Haiti returned to full constitutional order following parliamentary elections in 2016 and the appointment of a president. Pictured, MINUSTAH personnel deliver electoral material to regions around the country for the Senatorial elections in June 2009.

MINUSTAH also worked to help Haitians during a number of natural disasters over the past 13 years, including heavy rains from tropical storm Noel in 2007, which left thousands of people homeless. Above, a Brazilian UN peacekeeper rescues a baby and his family from a flooded home in Cite Soleil.

The Security Council visited Haiti most recently in June of this year. During the visit, the Council reaffirmed its commitment to the Government and the people of Haiti, and to contributing to the country’s stability and development. Pictured, Members of the Security Council meet with Haiti’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aviol Fleurant, and other Government officials.

The Council extended MINUSTAH’s mandate in April 2017 for a final six months, deciding to replace it with a smaller follow-up peacekeeping mission that would focus on helping to strengthen the rule of law in Haiti. Above, UN peacekeepers patrol Lake Azule for illegal trafficking of materials.

Among the UN’s ongoing efforts in Haiti is the fight against cholera. In December 2016, then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon put forward a New Approach to Cholera in Haiti to demonstrate the Organization’s commitment to eliminating the disease. He also apologized to the Haitian people, stating that the UN had not done enough with regard to the 2010 cholera outbreak and its subsequent spread. Pictured, residents near a natural spring in Fondwa collect drinkable water.

Ahead of MINUSTAH’s closure on 15 October 2017, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of Mission, Sandra Honoré, inspects for the last time the all-female Bangladeshi Formed Police Unit (FPU) serving with the Mission. The force spent more than seven years in Haiti.