For the First Time the UN’s Human Development Index Ranks Countries by their “Planetary Pressures” Joanne Lu January 26, 2021 The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published its latest Human Development Index last month. This year, the index includes each country’s environmental impacts, and the results are not good, especia...
This is How European Countries Rank in their Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals Joanne Lu December 11, 2020 Even within a wealthy region like the European Union, it turns out that no country is on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and one of the goals in most need of improvement is No Hunger. That’s...
Countries Where Hunger is a Problem, Ranked Joanne Lu October 14, 2020 Overall, the world has made gradual progress toward eliminating hunger over the last two decades, but according to the latest Global Hunger Index published Monday, progress is far too slow – so much so, 37 coun...
Why the UN Is Making the Case for Universal Health Coverage Joanne Lu October 7, 2020 Amid a global pandemic, achieving universal health coverage may seem like an ambition for a later time. But in a new report released today, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres argues that universal health cov...
Why Biodiversity is a Big Focus of UNGA This Year Joanne Lu September 18, 2020 Ten years ago, more than 190 countries met in Aichi, Japan to set 20 biodiversity targets that they wished to achieve by the end of 2020, in an effort to preserve the variety of living species and ecosystems on...
A New Study Finds that As Developing Countries Get Richer, People Are *More* Likely to Leave Joanne Lu August 18, 2020 It turns out that as developing countries get richer, migration out of those countries actually increases – at least for a little while. That’s according to a set of new reports published today by the Center fo...
Polio vaccination campaigns have resumed in Afghanistan and Pakistan – the last two countries where the crippling disease has a foothold – after a reported “surge” in cases. Joanne Lu August 14, 2020 Child vaccination drives, including against polio, were stopped in March due to concerns that they might increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission to children, their caregivers and vaccinators. The precautions...
Another Devastating Humanitarian Crisis is Colliding with COVID-19 in South Asia: Monsoon Floods. Joanne Lu July 28, 2020 More than 9.6 million people in India, Bangladesh and Nepal have been affected by flooding from this year’s devastating monsoon rains. Homes and crops have been destroyed, families have been stranded, and by go...
WHO and UNICEF: “Alarming Decline” in Childhood Immunizations Due to COVID-19 Joanne Lu July 17, 2020 For months, health experts working in underimmunized areas have warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is interrupting life-saving vaccination campaigns, particularly in poor countries. Now, a new report by the Worl...
