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UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Measles Outbreak Samoa - OCHA & WHO
Efforts to help the small Pacific island of Samoa overcome a deadly measles outbreak have received a $2.6 million boost from the UN’s emergency fund, CERF.
The development – announced in New York by the organisation’s emergency relief chief Mark Lowcock - comes as deaths from the preventable disease reached 70, the vast majority being children under five.
“The United Nations’ emergency response fund, the CERF, has released $2.6 million to help responders scale up and fight back against the devastating measles outbreak in Samoa,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told journalists in Geneva on Tuesday.
“As of this morning, 4,819 measles cases have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team since the outbreak started, according to the Ministry of Health in Samoa,” Mr. Laerke added. “There were 87 cases recorded over the past 24 hours.”
Amid reports that Samoan health providers have been “overwhelmed” by the outbreak, which was declared on 15 November, the OCHA official added that the funds would be used to provide emergency vaccinations, obstetric and neonatal care for mothers and newborns infected with measles.
In addition, the funding will help to deliver mental health and psychosocial support and provide clean water and sanitation, along with public health information.
To date, more than 120 medical teams from the World Health Organization (WHO) have also deployed throughout the country to assist with the vaccination drive.
The UN has also backed another national campaign, with workers going door-to-door to promote awareness about the importance of getting inoculations.
Such moves are seen as vital to rebuilding community confidence and trust following the deaths last year of two babies during routine vaccination, amid strong anti-vaccination sentiment.
“Obviously this is a tragedy that you can have 61 child(ren) and nine other people being basically killed by a virus that is completely preventable,” said Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson.
Shortly after the outbreak was declared on 15 November, Samoan authorities launched a mass vaccination campaign, at the same time as they announced a state of emergency.
“So far, about 90 per cent of the 143,000 people it targeted have been reached, Mr. Laerke said, noting that the island nation was not alone in suffering a measles outbreak, linked to low immunisation coverage.
“By the end of November 2019, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and American Samoa have all reported measles outbreaks,” he said. “Prior to the ongoing outbreaks, measles vaccine coverage varied in Pacific island countries and areas, ranging from 31 per cent in Samoa to 99 per cent in the Cook Islands and Nauru.”
To contain the public health threat, the Government of Samoa has launched a national appeal for nearly $11 million, as it works to vaccinate its population and treat those who have already been affected.
Its youngest citizens are most at risk, OCHA said in a statement, along with pregnant women and new mothers.
- Wide shot: exterior, flag alley, sunny and windy conditions, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
- Medium shot: Press room, journalists, podium speakers.
- Medium shot: back of journalist’s head wearing listening piece in foreground, another journalist opposite with hand obscuring mouth.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The United Nations’ emergency response fund, the CERF, has released $2.6 million to help responders scale up and fight back against the devastating measles outbreak in Samoa.”
- Medium shot: journalist wearing headphones to left of shot, other journalists to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “As of this morning, 4,819 measles cases have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team since the outbreak started, according to the Ministry of Health in Samoa. There were 87 cases recorded over the past 24 hours.”
- Medium shot: journalist writing on laptop, wearing headphones, back of another journalist’s head to right of shot in close up.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson, World Health Organization (WHO): “Obviously this is a tragedy that you can have 61 child(ren) and nine other people being basically killed by a virus that is completely preventable.”
- Medium shot: journalists typing on laptops.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The Government of Samoa, with support from the UN and the international community, launched a mass vaccination campaign on 20 November. This campaign has so far reached about 90 per cent of the 143,000 people it targeted.”
- Close up, journalist looking down.
- Medium shot: journalists typing on laptops.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Prior to the ongoing outbreaks, measles vaccine coverage varied in Pacific island countries and areas, ranging from only 31 per cent in Samoa to 99 per cent in the Cook Islands and Nauru.”
- Medium shot: journalists, one reading, the other checking his mobile phone.
- Medium shot: podium with three speakers, table in foreground.
- Medium shot: journalists in foreground and to rear.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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