When girls are safe, healthy, and empowered, they are forces for positive change in the world. They help grow economies, strengthen communities, and improve the health and well-being of families. Even more, respecting their rights – and the rights of all people – is our moral obligation. Yet, in times of emergency – when conflict and disaster strike – the needs and rights of girls are often neglected. Today, millions of girls have been uprooted […]

The difference in food affordability and the factors leading to food disparities across the globe may come as a shock to most. The World Food Programme’s (WFP) Counting the Beans index reveals the truth behind the cost of an average plate of food across the globe. For instance, a $1.20 meal in New York costs $82.10 in the Central African Republic, where a civil war has occupied the country since 2012. A $5.50 plate in

When I visited Uganda last year, I met a woman named Sarah*. As she relayed, from the moment she was born, Sarah’s life was shaped by inequality: She was born into poverty, with no support from her family, no access to education or health care, and no job opportunities in her rural town. As a young girl of 12, she moved to the city on her own looking for economic opportunity, where she was raped

Fewer children were paralyzed by polio in 2016 than any year in history. Today, more than 16 million people, who would otherwise have been paralyzed by polio, are able to walk, and this year wild polio remains in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Although the world is closer than ever to eradicating polio, the virus continues to circulate, especially in remote and conflict-ridden areas. To protect children from the disease’s spread, countries remain

Twice each year – in both the fall and the spring – thousands of global development practitioners from government, the private sector, civil society, and academia descend upon Washington, D.C. for the World Bank/IMF Meetings. In addition to serving as an important forum to discuss critical issues – such as the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, aid effectiveness, and the role of multilateralism – the meetings also provide an important opportunity to launch

  The United Nations is the world’s platform to build understanding between nations, find ways to cooperate, and launch coordinated action on problems that transcend borders, from terrorism to climate change to pandemics. While many people read the headlines coming out of the UN Security Council, the organization is also active around the world, heading into crises to help the world’s most vulnerable people, promoting sustainable development, protecting human rights, and advancing peace. As UN

Every child deserves a chance at a healthy life. That is why the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign is thrilled to be collaborating with Walgreens through the fifth annual Get a Shot. Give a Shot.® program. This partnership helps strengthen overall routine immunization services for the world’s most vulnerable children for years to come – improving children’s health, reducing preventable sickness, and building a strong healthy world for the future. Improving access to vaccinations in countries around

For the first time, fewer than 100,000 people around the world died from measles in a year. New data published today by the partners of the Measles & Rubella Partnership (M&RP) shows an 84% drop in measles deaths globally from 2000-2016, a major milestone in the fight against this preventable disease. Dedicated vaccinators reaching more and more children in the world’s poorest countries have helped slow the spread of this highly contagious illness, which affects

By Ricky Richard, UN Foundation Fall 2017 Global Health Intern In our increasingly interconnected world, countries must work harder than ever to combat threats to global public health – from the emergence of new pathogens, to the spread of fast-moving epidemics, to the misuse of harmful biological substances, and the rise of antimicrobial resistance. The White House this month reaffirmed its commitment to stopping infectious disease around the world, with  U.S. Secretary of State Rex