UNRWA staff launches education program for children in Gaza. Top stories of the day | Thursday: prisoner swap, Gaza, breastfeeding UN
Top stories of the day in the UN and around the world: prisoner swap between Russia and the West, rising breastfeeding rates, launch of education program for children in Gaza, healthy eating.
Prisoner Exchange
Special Rapporteur on human rights in Russia Mariana Katsarova commented on reports of a prisoner exchange involving Russia, the United States and a number of other countries in an interview with the UN News Service. She called it “an unprecedented diplomatic act.” Katsarova also called for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners from prisons in Russia.
Increasing Breastfeeding Rates
Over the past 12 years, the number of infants who are exclusively breastfed for up to six months has increased by more than 10 percent to 48 percent, according to data presented by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on the occasion of World Breastfeeding Week, which began on August 1. According to WHO, improving breastfeeding rates can save more than 820,000 children’s lives every year.
Educating children in Gaza
Staff from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) launched a program on Thursday to educate children in Gaza. UNRWA is seeking to help hundreds of thousands of children deprived of the opportunity to attend school survive the current crisis. Minors will be provided with psychosocial support with an emphasis on art, music and sports. Projects to raise awareness of the risks associated with unexploded ordnance are also envisaged. In the second phase, the program will include non-formal educational activities with lessons in reading, writing and mathematics.
Healthy eating
More than a third of the world’s inhabitants cannot afford healthy food, as some regions have not yet recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is stated in the report “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World”, prepared by UN agencies. In Africa, the proportion of the population without access to healthy food was almost 65 percent, in Asia – 35 percent, in North America and Europe – about five.