World Pneumonia Day on November 12 is a day to raise awareness about a disease that kills more than 900,000 children each year – more than from any other infectious disease. In the countdown to World Pneumonia Day, the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign is working to ensure that people understand the severity of this global problem through the initiative “Pneumonia: 12 Days of Impact.” Every day from November 1-12, Shot@Life is sharing a piece […]

Protecting human rights around the world is a key pillar of the United Nations’ work – and the driving force behind Maina Kiai’s career. From 2011 through this year, Kiai has served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. As a special rapporteur appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, the UN’s top intergovernmental human rights body, Kiai “examines, monitors, advises, and publicly reports on the

As we get closer to the holidays, we increasingly hear about shopping deals, but in two weeks, the world will hear about giving as we celebrate the annual #GivingTuesday – a chance to make the holidays about not just what we get, but also what we give. This year, #GivingTuesday falls on November 29, the Tuesday immediately following Black Friday and Cyber Monday. On this day, individuals, businesses, and communities from all around the world

The United Nations has declared November 16 as the International Day of Tolerance. This declaration followed the declaration of 1995 as the International Year of Tolerance. How our standards have shrunk and how unfortunate it is that we need such a day to remind ourselves of the rising burden of intolerance globally. We now live in a world in which people are increasingly contemptuous of what sociologists call “the other,” increasingly expanding the category of

Earlier this year at the World Health Assembly, I had the honor to interview a few of the inspiring women leading the Women Leaders in Global Health Initiative (WLGHI), a group working to increase the representation of women in all leadership levels in the global health arena. Gender equality and women’s empowerment are critical in helping us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world. To

Last week, leaders from around the world met in Morocco to discuss at COP22 to discuss our shared future. As these leaders meet in Marakech, a coalition of more than 100 businesses, media organizations, and NGOs united to send a message, from Earth To Marrakech, for global climate action. The Earth To Marrakech global climate movement joined diverse voices from around the world in a collective call to move from words to action on climate

On January 1, António Guterres will take office as the ninth United Nations Secretary-General, succeeding UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who leaves office at the end of December. Upon Guterres’ selection by the UN General Assembly in October, UN Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner said, “He understands what it takes to lead, and he knows how to get things done. He’s an impatient humanitarian who will be a tireless diplomat for the hopes of people

Parents around the world want their children to be able to go to school and follow their dreams. Yet for millions of children forced to flee their homes because of conflict and violence, education is often out of reach. Each of us can support United Nations efforts to help refugee children learn. Here are five reasons why you should care. Every child has the right to education. As the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) states, “Education

Around the world, people are hungry for change – and they don’t want to be on the sidelines watching it happen; they want to be the ones making it happen. No longer are people passive check writers; they are active change makers. This hunger is democratizing philanthropy. Decades ago, philanthropy was associated with wealthy people who wrote big checks to their favored organizations in the twilight of their lives. Today, as the #GivingTuesday movement shows,