As part of our “Americans in the UN” project to share the stories of Americans who work for the United Nations, we connected with Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Ambassador William Lacy Swing. At IOM, Director General Swing is working to address the growing needs of over 80 million people in 50 countries. Formerly a U.S. Ambassador and Under-Secretary-General for the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo […]

The 2018 Winter Olympic Games will shine a spotlight beyond top athletes to illuminate the lives of refugees. With some 65.6 million people forcibly displaced from their homes, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are joining forces through the ‘Become the Light’ initiative to provide lights for refugees. According to UNHCR, 9 out of 10 refugees in camps have no access to light. For these 4 million men, women, and children,

There is a palpable sense of energy and excitement at the World Health Organization (WHO) these days, as witnessed during last week’s Executive Board meeting. The new Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has embarked on what has the potential to be a breathtaking transformation of the United Nations specialized agency. The new approach is summed up as “Promote health, keep the world safe, serve the vulnerable.” But the approach isn’t simply a nice slogan –

The birth of a child should be a time of joy, but for many women, especially in developing countries, it can be dangerous. Women in developing countries are 300 times more likely to die from childbirth than women in developed countries. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2015, approximately 830 women died every day due to complications during pregnancy or childbirth; 99 percent of these deaths occur in developing countries. Adding

By Allison Graine, UN Foundation Spring 2018 Intern Last month, global leaders convened at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, where more than 400 panels over four days covered topics from economics to electronics to global health and security. Below are six must-know global health advances from the forum. The Global Fund Launches HIV Epidemic Response (HER) Initiative The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and its partners introduced the HIV Epidemic Response

By Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Kenya and Radhika Shah, Co-President Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs Africa’s quest for health continues to face challenges from a combination of factors such as natural disasters and pandemics, prevailing high rates of communicable and rising incidence of non-communicable diseases, sedentary lifestyles, road accidents, and greater population mobility. With the region accounting for approximately a quarter of the world’s disease burden and just three percent of its doctors, business

After nearly seven years of protracted and violent conflict, the devastating humanitarian crisis continues to unfold in Syria. In the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, which the United Nations Secretary-General has described as “hell on Earth,” reports estimate over 300 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the month alone, prompting the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to issue a poignant statement on the conflict – a statement with blank spaces, because there are

Updated: May 8, 2019 Every day, more than 100,000 United Nations peacekeepers work to stabilize some of the world’s most volatile conflict zones – protecting civilians from violence; monitoring the implementation of peace agreements; disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating former combatants into society; facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance; training national police forces; and supporting free and fair elections, and the creation of stable governing institutions. Here are seven key facts to know about UN Peacekeeping: 14

The World Health Organization (WHO) is in the midst of a transformation. Led by Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO is embarking on an ambitious effort to make 1 billion people healthier, protect 1 billion more people from health emergencies, and extend universal health coverage to 1 billion more people. Dr. Tedros is pushing to modernize WHO, making the guardian of the world’s health nimbler and more connected. To support this work, the United Nations Foundation last