As posted by UNAIDS and UNDP in a press release:

VIENNA/GENEVA, 15 March 2019—A coalition of United Nations Member States, United Nations entities and leading human rights experts meeting at the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria, today launched a landmark set of international legal standards to transform and reshape global responses to the world drug problem.Continue reading ->

Image Credits: UNAIDS/UNDP.

As posted by UN Environment in a World Environment Day press release:

Nairobi, 15 March 2019 – Today, the head of Chinese delegation, Zhao Yingmin, Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment, and Joyce Msuya, Acting Head of UN Environment, jointly announced that China will host the global World Environment Day celebrations on 5 June 2019 with a theme of air pollution.Continue reading ->

Image Credits: UN Environment/World Environment Day.

World Health Organization Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters today that WHO is “working to find a balance between protecting patients and staff from attacks by armed groups and building community trust and ownership” in managing the response to the deadly Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo.Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Gabriele François Casini/MSF.

The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs appears set to delay any consideration this year of a recent World Health Organization recommendation to reschedule the status of cannabis and cannabis-related substances from “particularly dangerous” to a less dangerous category – with no timeline indicated for when the Commission might actually take up the contentious issue.Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Taki Lau.

UN Environment today released its sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6), assessing the state of the environment over the last five years. The report highlights studies published in the scientific press last year estimating that the health benefits of reducing air pollution would be 1.4 to 2.5 times greater than the costs of mitigation. Savings between 2020 and 2050 would be in the range of US$54.1 trillion, as compared to costs of US$22.1 trillion, in some scenarios cited.Continue reading ->

Image Credits: Shutterstock/TonyV3112.