UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UN Geneva Press Briefing

[Other language spoken]

Welcome to the UN office at Geneva for this press briefing today, Friday, the 25th of September, we have a very big agenda for you.

We have a few announcements.

We'll start with those from WIPO and from WHO.

And then we have topics covering Yemen, Sudan, the Ebola situation, DRC, as well as an update on the recovery from the Nepal floods from the World Food Programme.

And we also have an announcement at the end at from FAO on food loss and waste.

So we'll start off right away with Ed Harris of WIPO, who has an announcement on the launch of a report.

So Ed, over to you.

Thanks, Rolando.

Good morning, everyone.

You will have already received one notification from Eunice.

But just quickly reiterate, we're launching our Global Innovation Index, the twenty 26th edition on Tuesday at 1:30 during an event here in Geneva.

Everybody is welcome.

Please come across the street if you'd like and I'm sure you'll enjoy the accustomed hospitality.

For those who are maybe not super familiar with it, the Global Innovation Index ranks 139 economies worldwide this year.

It uses 79 indicators to look at the state of innovation in these places, including venture capital figures, R&D data, IP filings and much, much more.

So basically countries across the globe, they use the GII to understand how to better optimise their policies, to create the kind of economic environments where people's ideas can result in new products, services, culture that makes the biggest impact for all of us.

You've also seen that we are having an embargoed press conference on Monday, so that's under embargo Monday afternoon before the Tuesday event launch.

That's at 3:00 PM Director General Darren Tang will be presiding.

I'll send all the embargoed materials to everyone first thing early morning so you have some time to peruse it before the press conference.

Anybody who would like to have sort of one on ones with any of our experts, please get in touch.

I'm happy to set that up for you as well.

So please come along at 3:00 PM on Monday.

You'll be receiving the Zoom link by Rolando and his colleagues.

Just a reminder that the embargo drops on all of this Tuesday morning, next week at 9:30, the events in the afternoon, but we're expiring the embargo at 9:30.

So with that, thanks very much, everyone.

Back to you, Orlando.

Great, thank you.

Thanks for the heads up and for all the details.

We'll be watching that space, of course.

Any questions for Ed online?

OK, I don't see that's the case.

[Other language spoken]

OK, we'll move to WHO.

Amna is connected and she has an announcement on influenza vaccines.

[Other language spoken]

Good morning, colleagues.

So this morning, WHO updated its recommendations for the composition of influenza vaccines for the 2027 Southern Hemisphere influenza season.

This follows an extensive global consultation over the past four days.

We have also updated candidate vaccine viruses for animal flu viruses to help countries prepare for future influenza pandemics.

The announcement is being made at The Who information meeting which started at 9:00 AM and this live streamed as we speak on WH OS YouTube channel where the recording will be available as well.

And in the course of the day, please expect a press release with details of the recommended vaccine composition.

Just a quick reminder, WHO issues these recommendations twice a year to help keep influenza vaccines affected as flu viruses continuously change.

National vaccine regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical companies around the world use these recommendations to develop, produce and licenced vaccines that keep pace with the continuous evolution of the flu viruses.

[Other language spoken]

Amna, I think Gorky, is that a question for Amna online?

[Other language spoken]

I don't think there are questions.

So I think it's very clear.

Thanks very much for that announcement.

And we are now going to move to our topic starting off with situation in Yemen.

We have Ricardo connected and he's going to introduce a guest who's joining us from Eiden in Yemen.

So Ricardo, over to you.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Can we hold on just a second?

I think, John, maybe there's a question for the previous briefer.

So just put a pin in that just for a second.

[Other language spoken]

Is that a question for our previous briefers?

[Other language spoken]

OK, you know what, let's let's we're having a issue maybe with unmuting.

So let's just move on to the briefing.

Apologies for that.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Rolando.

Good morning, everyone.

[Other language spoken]

Just to quickly introduce our country representative in Yemen, Akhil here, who's going to be briefing from Aden on the increasing threat of malnutrition and hunger in the country as violence escalates.

Over to you.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you and good morning to all and thank you for the opportunity to speak about the situation in in Yemen, a very difficult situation with an escalating conflict.

I thought I would start today not talking about numbers, but talking about a child.

Yesterday I visited Al Fredu's camp, which is a camp hosting internally displaced persons from the West Coast of Yemen, a place called Al Mofa District, and there I met a four year old child by the name of Taha.

He was inside of a nutrition treatment facility supported by UNICEF and he suffers unfortunately from severe acute malnutrition.

We also spoke with his mother, and she told us that they had escaped with nothing and that her only fear was getting her son out before it was too late.

Unfortunately, Taha's story is not unique, and what he and his family are going through is being repeated across the country, hitting a population that is already weakened by years of conflict and persistent food and nutrition crises against the backdrop of economic decline.

So what is happening is another vicious cycle is being accelerated, one the children in Yemen know only too well.

Conflict is driving hunger, and hunger makes children even more vulnerable to conflict.

In the past weeks, some nearly 2900 children have been screened by UNICEF mobile nutrition teams in areas where we have safe humanitarian access.

And more than one in four of these children are acutely malnourished and some 200 had the very serious condition of severe acute malnutrition.

And this is only a glimpse of how devastating the situation is across Yemen.

Across Yemen, based on the latest figures that we have more than 2.2 million children are project under 5 are projected to be acutely malnourished this year with over half a million projected to be suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form.

And so against this dire backdrop, access to healthcare and nutrition treatment is being disrupted and compromised.

Too many families, the search for food is now happening while they're on the move.

Over the past three weeks, some nearly 130,000 people, including 71,000 children have been forced from their homes due to the conflict.

The majority are displaced from or from within the southern western governor of Thais and they have been unable to move to safer areas, often because of fighting, blocked roads or lack of transportation.

Now, some of the families who have got out and been displaced and are now in accessible areas have not been displaced this one time.

They've been displaced up to six times over the years.

We spoke to Haifa, a young mother who fled Yemen's West Coast as well.

And she told us that the guns of of that the sounds of gunfire were closing in on her house.

[Other language spoken]

She told us that she didn't have time to think.

She just knew that she had to run and run quickly with her family.

And today she and her family live in extreme heat in a side of a tent with no source of income, and they are struggling for food and medicine.

She pointed out to us that displacement has stripped them of their dignity.

This is in fact what displacement does.

It doesn't just take away a house, takes away one's livelihood, one's community, one's independence, one's routine.

The certainty that tomorrow will look anything like today is taken away.

Beyond being uprooted from their homes, too many children have already paid the heaviest price in this conflict.

Since early September, UNICEF has verified that at least 15 children have been killed and 14 injured by the conflict.

There are many more unverified incidents that we're looking into and we know that three children are still reported missing, but behind every one of those numbers is a child and a parent living through a nightmare of imaginable, unimaginable grief, fear and agony of not knowing.

Education is also being deeply impacted.

In the past three weeks, 243 schools have closed or suspended learning affected, all affecting almost 140,000 students.

UNICEF is expanding our emergency response to reach up to 231,000 people across Yemen, many of them children, through mobile health and nutrition teams, provision of safe water and sanitation, support to health facilities, education and child protection services.

But humanitarian assistance is not a substitute for protection.

We cannot keep asking children to survive what they should have never been exposed to in the 1st place.

All parties must protect children.

They must protect civilians and they must protect civilian infrastructure.

They must uphold international humanitarian law and facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian access.

The children that I have met here do not talk about geopolitics.

They ask about their home.

They ask about their school, the people and the friends they left behind.

They asked where they're going to sleep tonight, and they're asking when they can go back home.

These should not, in fact, be the defining questions of a childhood.

Yemen's children have already lost way too much due to conflict, and they should not be forced to lose more.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak about the situation in Yemen and particularly about the situation affecting its children.

Thank you very much, Akhil.

It's a devastating situation, but we appreciate you briefing our journalists on this.

So let's see if there are questions for you.

We do have one from Anadolu Muhammad Rolanda, thank you so much.

Thank you for the briefing.

Actually, my question is, will be about the displacement.

I mean, if, if someone maybe you necessary as well, if they're over there can share the latest number, how many people displace internally and externally in Yemen during this conflict?

I think Akhil, you mentioned you gave a number of displaced and there's also just colleagues just to consult the OCHA update, which you do receive last night.

But Akhil, maybe you can chime in on that point.

And then Eugene and both Kennedy are joining us from IOM and UNAC.

But Akhil, if you want something to add first.

[Other language spoken]

So the the most up to date figure is 131,000 people displaced.

We do a daily a daily tracking of the number of displaced which is actually led by by IOM and this is this is the figure that UN agencies and NGO partners use in terms of guiding our response.

Thank you very much.

Kennedy from IOM is here to maybe give some information on internally displaced.

Yeah, thank you very much.

As it has already been mentioned, the number, the current number that we have as of the 22nd of September stands at 134,000 people who have been displaced within, within Yemen.

And just to add on that, we did mention that the largest constitution of displaced people are reported in Thais government where we are hosting around where the the government is hosting around 75,000 people who have been displaced, which actually represent 5656% of the total displacement figure.

[Other language spoken]

And I note that there may be a slight discrepancy in the numbers, but this is given the fluidity of the situation, it's a crisis.

And I'm sure you appreciate that these numbers, we do our best to provide updated figures.

So thank you very much.

You're just going to talk about maybe Djibouti situation and for the cross-border movement we recorded 3000, more than 3700 refugees from Yemen arrived in Djibouti.

Muslim Obok, let's put it in the perspective 3700, that sounds very little number compared to other refugee hosting country in Africa.

But Djibouti is a very small country.

Djibouti only has 1.2 million people.

And then previously they hosted a 36,000 refugee before out of them 4000 was the Yemeni.

So meaning that adding almost the 4000 more and it's just a double the Yemeni refugee number.

And then also that making the total number of 40,000 refugee hosted by Djibouti self.

As we already mentioned that we're also seeing a few hundreds also arriving in Somaliland and in Puntland.

It's just the sea crossing is extremely dangerous at the moment.

So we're not seeing a lot of risking their life to cross the cross the sea.

But as we mentioned previous briefing that mid-october, we are expecting that sea crossing is getting safer and then we expected more to arrive to Somali land and the Puntland.

Thank you very much, Eugene, with Christian from Olivia Reuters morning.

Thank you very much indeed to all for this this briefing.

[Other language spoken]

You're saying you're seeing a rise in the in sorry, you're saying you've screened nearly 2900 children for for malnutrition.

One in four are acutely malnourished.

My question to you is, are you seeing an actual increase in the past three weeks since this uptick in, in, in, in fighting in Yemen, in, in malnutrition cases, in children, but also among adults?

And secondly, I just just was wondering if you could expand on the point that you said that, you know what's happening is another vicious cycle complex driving hunger and hunger makes children even more vulnerable to conflict.

I was just wondering on the latter point, if you could just expand a bit more on what on what you meant there.

[Other language spoken]

So absolutely we are seeing an uptick in acute malnutrition among children, including the worst form, which is severe acute malnutrition.

So every day we are seeing more and more cases in these, in these mobile and health and nutrition clinics that we've set up not just around Arden, but in all, all accessible areas where Idps have arrived and where we can assist them.

So we're very concerned about the a very visible increase in in acute malnutrition among children, not so much among adults, but among children.

Children are by far much more vulnerable to to malnutrition than than than the adult population.

Regarding my comment about being being more vulnerable to, to conflict, when a child is so malnourished and conflict returns to where they are, they are forced once again to displace, they're forced to move once again.

And the journey in Yemen is extremely harsh, It's extremely arduous.

So it's they are much more vulnerable to the effects of the conflict, which are forced displacement and their chances of surviving it and overcoming their dire state of acute, often severe acute malnutrition is lessened with each with each movement with each forced displacement.

OK, thank you very much.

Well noted.

We have a question now from Jeremy, Radio Fonz International.

Jeremy, we see you're unmuted.

I'm not sure if we can't hear.

[Other language spoken]

Could be a technical issue if you want to drop your question in the chat perhaps or Yep, sorry colleagues, let's see.

Oh I see, while we're waiting for Jeremy Christian DPA had a question.

134 or A130301000 displaced I think.

Kennedy, you mentioned from the 22nd of September, so that is now what, three days old?

So I don't know if there is any more clarity on the figures internal.

I'm just referring to the Orcha update last night.

Christian colleagues, 133,000 is mentioned as of yesterday, the 24th.

So it's it's quite possible that things have evolved in those two days.

As I mentioned, the situation is very fluid.

Maybe I don't know if Akilah, you're on the ground there.

So maybe you could provide some more clarity on that while we're waiting for Jeremy, maybe let's try Jeremy again.

And if not, I will we OK, now we can hear you.

[Other language spoken]

No, that's better.

[Other language spoken]

And when it comes to the death and the civilian casualties, could you give us some kind of explanation?

Do we know how they got killed?

I mean, they were killed because of dashes between the Houthis and the Yemeni forces or because of the bombardments from from the Saudi forces.

Can you give us a kind of an explanation?

How do those children got killed?

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry, we can't hear you now.

I think we're having a little technical difficulties this morning, Colleagues.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry about that.

[Other language spoken]

So I said that there were 1515 verified killings of children.

We verified that these children were killed.

They were killed primarily due to shelling in the areas where where they were.

The other figures that I mentioned were were children who were injured or or wounded also by also by shelling.

I do not believe we have information, verified information on whose shelling it was necessarily.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for the clarifying that Akhil.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, hi, thank you for taking my question.

I was wondering, you also mentioned the problem of access, access to healthcare for these kids.

I don't know if you can answer maybe WHO, but it would be interesting to have a little bit more detail about what the health, other health issues that you feel are going untreated and also diseases perhaps in the situation where where children are finding themselves in a very perhaps difficult and unsanitary situation.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, I've seen in the piece.

So thank you for the question Nina.

Access, access to healthcare across Yemen is a, is a very big problem because humanitarian agencies such as UNICEF do not have safe access to almost, I would say between 65 and 70% of the, of the children of the population in the country.

Because these areas are, are are are under the control of the Houthis.

And in those areas we don't have a safe unimpeded access.

So therefore the access to healthcare, which is largely provided by international organisations such as UNICEF and WHO is very much is very much restricted.

The types of the types of diseases that we see when we can reach populations, such as displaced populations that arrive in accessible areas are things such as measles, a disease that's preventable through vaccination if vaccination is taking place, acute respiratory infections, diarrheal disease.

There's a lot of diarrheal disease and there is, there are cases of cholera in the camp that I visited yesterday, there had been, there had been cases of cholera that had to be referred to to hospitals closer to Adam.

There's a, there's a very big risk of, of, of a cholera outbreak expanding and expanding quickly.

And Yemen has a sad history with respect to cholera.

So those are some of the major, major illnesses, particularly illnesses affecting children that that we've noticed.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Amna, please, if you have anything to add on the health front, please just put your hand up and I'll turn to you.

In the meantime, we'll go to Christian DPA.

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Can you give us a bit of a sense of what your access or the UNS access is in the, in the territories?

How many offices do you have or how many points can you reach?

Or rather how many points can you not reach where you think there might be people in need?

[Other language spoken]

So at at present our our head office is in Aden and then we have a number of smaller field offices or or hubs.

Now some of those hubs in the areas controlled by the de facto authorities or the Houthis are presently are presently closed.

However, we're we are able to provide humanitarian assistance without necessarily having a working a working field office.

So for example, we have been providing nutritional products, essential and essential medicines as well as of vaccines across the entire territory of Yemen, including the government controlled area and the Houthi controlled area.

However, to do that in the Houthi controlled area, it requires it does require an exceptional approval.

But we have been able to obtain that exceptional approval internally within the UN and with the authorities to able to be able to provide that that life saving assistance to more than 3200 health facilities.

Thank you very much for the clarity.

OK, let me let's go back to Amna because I think you want to chime in on the health the previous health question Amna.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you Rolando.

So on as we know, Yemen is facing multiple concurrent health risks as we have heard from the previous speakers and the latest conflict escalation and the mass casualties and displacement that is causing up looking additional pressure on the health system that is already weakened by years of conflict, disease outbreaks, food insecurity, malnutrition and also severe funding constraints.

Access as UNICEF has noted that it is becoming the major constraint and the recent changes along the West Coast have also restructured referral ramps, increasing the importance of alternative corners and strengthening deceding hospitals, particularly in aberrant disease.

The areas with some of the highest helping is increasingly difficult to reach.

90 of the 105 health clusters, priority districts and the most labelling operations have been suspended.

The deception has a direct impact on essential services, including outpatient consultation, skill deliveries and child health services.

Just a couple of figures on the state of the health system.

The health facilities are already operating under severe constraints and of the over 4000 health service delivery units that were assessed for functionality, only 60% of our Poly function for the compounding access to healthcare, 35% are partially functioning and 4% were non functioning.

Pharmacare is available as full service packaging, only 6% of these as facilities, particularly concerning as Chandan's right shopping with the escalation back to you.

Thank you very much, Aman, as always notes, if you can share notes, that would be very helpful for all of us.

And so thank you so very much for that.

We still have a couple of questions going back to Reuters.

[Other language spoken]

Amna, I had some questions yesterday on your release, so I'm going to ask you here.

Could you explain the death toll for Yemen that you put in your statement yesterday?

I think you said 674 deaths and 2998 injuries.

I was just wondering how you got that.

Please could you explain?

Thank you, Abner.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, now sorry I don't have the information on that, but I will check with our country office and I will get back to you on that.

[Other language spoken]

I think we have definitely technical issues this morning, John.

Yeah, we started to hear you, but no, we can't.

All right.

We do have to move on to the next subject.

So may I just suggest you reach out to Amna bilaterally?

Sorry for that, but it's we have a pretty big agenda and we have to move on.

So I think that does it for Yemen.

Akhil, thank you so very much for joining us.

Good luck to you and thank you for updating us and and please do so at any time.

Ricardo, thank you for for bringing Akhil to us.

So we're going to move on to the situation in Sudan.

Eugene is on the podium.

She can stay here.

And if you can stay with us as well on Monday.

So Eugene, over to you.

[Other language spoken]

So I I will introduce then Mamadou Dian Balde, who's UN Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan situation and the UNHCR Regional Director for Eastern and after Eastern Africa.

[Other language spoken]

And thank you very much for joining us here in Geneva.

Thank you very much.

Rolando, are you able to hear me?

[Other language spoken]

So thank you so much for for for having me and for me to speak about my recent mission to eastern Chad at the border with Darfur.

It's a, it was, I would say, a painful visit on the one hand, but also a place where you witness how humanitarian interventions as well as development interventions can contribute to helping people who are forced to flee the brutal conflict still happening inside, inside Sudan.

On the painful side 1 is that I was able to witness the arrival of new, new refugees, people who are who tell us that they flee the conflict, they flee the, the, the aerial bombardment, they flee the drone attacks, they free the persecution, they flee the violence.

And people who are also getting more vulnerable because of because of the impact of climate shocks such as water scarcity as well as lower level of, of rain.

So people have been coming 400 daily, that's 20 times more than what we had a few months ago.

And it still means that more people are coming into chat.

A very generous country, a country that is hosting brothers and sisters.

And mind you, since the beginning of the 55,000 new refugees have arrived in chat and they come on top of since the beginning of 2023 nearly 1,000,000 and who also found around 400,000 who were there since 2023.

So just to tell you, one is that newly arriving people and that's part of the painful things we see.

And that pain, I would say to you and was revolting because I met this young woman who was caring for the the cousin who had fled violence, who was still recovering from brutality that was put on her on and disabled.

And these are the type of vulnerabilities we see.

The harrowing stories of rape violence are still happening.

And I, I, I, I, I would say after one year and a half not visiting that border areas, that pain is still, it's something that we should not hear in, in, in today's world.

And I would say at the same time, we have seen that how you and Asia and 34 partners that are responding to the Sudan crisis in Chad are able to use the limited resources they have.

The international community have given them around 20% of the need that, that, that, that are required.

But it means less food, it means less capacities for people to be relocated to safer areas, it means less capacities to shelter themselves.

And it also means people who remain in very dire and vulnerable situation.

On the more positive side, I would say it's again a country chart that is hosting the refugees, opening its borders, its communities that are sharing everything.

But it's also development interventions that are coming and complementing humanitarian interventions that we see in the areas of water, in the areas of healthcare, for example, recognising 400 medical or people who are professional in the health sector to be able to practise their their their work are all things that we believe are absolutely essential into responding in from a solution from the start.

So again, just to highlight these two dynamics, one that painful stories about more people coming, still an emergency, still an unfunded emergency, which requires greater support, but also innovation as well as our possibilities to help sisters and brothers as well as the host communities to be able to take care of themselves.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mamadou.

So let's turn to you colleagues for any questions you may have.

[Other language spoken]

Eugene, please add, you will soon receive the briefing note from our end.

And then there you will find the report that the recent report is showing that very consequences of declining support which really extended beyond the immediate region, which actually show that how many Sudanese refugee actually take a decision to go to the Europe, what we called onward movement.

And then it shows that, that it's not a single journey that and then single decision they are they taking while the the overall arrival to Europe via Mediterranean has a decreased that we're seeing the Sudanese arrival by sea to Europe have risen significantly since the conflict begin.

We're talking about the 14,000 arrival recorded in 2025.

I will give you the example of a 2024.

We recorded 4000 the arrival, the Sudanese arrival, meaning that it's 246% increase from 2024 to 2025.

That actually that what we are hearing from Sudanese who arrive via Mediterranean is that the unmet protection and basing need in first country of asylum are among the factor contributing to onward movement.

But you will see the link which has all the analysis detail over previous year's arrival etcetera.

So you will soon receive the, the the briefing note.

That's very helpful.

[Other language spoken]

We do have a couple more questions on the subjects of Nina.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for the briefing.

I am sorry if I missed it, but I you said that it was, you've received just 20% of what's needed.

Could you provide the numbers please of how much you you think you need and how much you've received?

And if you could spell out a little bit more what the actual impact is, You mentioned it briefly, but if you could spell out sort of you've seen the specific situations on what that lack of resources means on the ground?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Nina, good questions that are there one and we can provide even more details later.

But what we we have is a a 1.6 billion that has been asked for the 123 partners around the Sudan situation which is funded only at around 20%.

So it's about, I would say it's the seven countries impacted by the Sudan situation including Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and all countries that are neighbouring the Sudan situation.

And that has a real impact on the people in Chad.

You will see over 150,000 people who are still in border areas in Adre, in Tina in several part who are we are not able to relocate to safer areas.

The government has provided land, partners are ready.

I was able to witness some relocation, but the pace at which the relocation is being made is not sufficient, It's not commensurate.

The needs and regenerosities that we see.

We are saying already now efforts to to, to reduce the food rations that are being provided to newly arriving refugees, people who've been here only for one year or two years since this brutal conflict started, who are on their way to be supported in communities which do not have much, but they have shared what they have.

So relocation shelters, we are in dire need of of, of shelter in, in, in, in, in the refugee site.

We have received some support.

But if as you are able to go and see the level of needs that are there, they are just when you get only 1/5 of the needs that you have.

So inner location in shelter, in food, in water systems, in a place like Urekasuni, which is the far north that I could not visit this time.

This is a place for example where we had gone at around only three litres per person per day.

Now, thanks to support that we have received, we have gone up to 8 litres per person per day, but still much below the required, the required standard that we have.

So these all impact people, they impact people's life, they impact the standard of living and they have people taking very, very dangerous journeys.

And as you, you mentioned, what we have seen is and during conversation I had with you is that if they don't get opportunities to live a bit more of dignified lives in a country like Chad, opportunities for skills, for development, intersection, time.

And there is no better, I would say much more resolute effort in relation to peace.

As the Secretary General has mentioned, as the High Commissioner has mentioned in relation to Sudan, what people are going to do is to vote with their feet.

And this is what we are starting to see in relation to Europe, but also in relation to order to order out.

But we can provide you more information, Nina, if you need me.

[Other language spoken]

That's very, very helpful.

[Other language spoken]

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[Other language spoken]

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[Other language spoken]

Sudan, just checking once, twice, No, that's not the case.

So thank you again, Mamadou, very much for joining us.

[Other language spoken]

I know you've briefed us in the past and we can we look forward to further briefings from you.

And thank you, Eugene, for delivering Mamadou to us again on Mundy, we're going to move to you again now on the situation of Ebola in the DRC, which persists sadly.

So we have an update from IOM if you want to introduce your guests over to you.

Thank you very much, Rolando.

As you already know, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to expand, placing affected communities under growing pressure and raising concerns about the risk of further transmission.

Today we are joined.

I'm happy to introduce our Deputy Regional Director for Operation, Nihan Adugan, who is calling in from Nairobi and alongside Andrew Obat, who is our Regional Ebola Coordinator for them to provide a bit of our insights of how the response and the current situation in DRC is like.

Over to you, Nehan.

Thank you very much and thank you, colleagues, for hosting us.

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to expand and it remains a major concern for the country and the wider region.

Allow me to give you a few numbers.

As of 21st of September, the DRC had reported more than 7700 confirmed cases and 3700 deaths, with the outbreak affecting over 60 health zones across 7 provinces.

Obviously, behind these numbers are families who have lost their loved ones and communities who are already facing conflict, displacement, limited services and constant population movements.

That is why for us at IOM, mobility must be at the centre of the response.

So what do we do to support that?

IOM is supporting the Ebola preparedness and response in the DRC, Uganda and nine other at risk neighbouring countries.

Our role is to help governments and partners to reduce the risks associated with population movement, particularly at points of entry, points of crossing, displacement sites, transport corridors, markets and river routes.

[Other language spoken]

One of the important tools we use is population mobility mapping and other mobility data to identify major movement corridors, hotspots, informal routes where surveillance and heart health interventions need to be strengthened.

And through such strengthened surveillance, supported by IOM and the Government's National Health Border Health Programme, more than 700 alerts have been identified.

And this includes more than 200 deceased people, with over 60 confirmed Ebola cases detected through these efforts.

This is important because this demonstrates why surveillance must extend beyond hospitals and former borders.

Allow me to also highlight the Congo River, because Congo River is an important area of focus for us.

It's a major transport and commercial corridor linking communities across the country, including Kinshasa, which as you know, it's home to more than 10 million people.

IOM is working with the government, WHO Africa, CDC and other partners to strengthen screening, surveillance, referral and community engagement along this important corridor.

I also want to highlight this placement sites because we are particularly concerned about them.

IOM is supporting more than 65 sites, including around 50 of them in this placement areas.

These communities are especially vulnerable because of overcrowding, limited services and high mobility and across the response in DRCIOM is supporting 124 active points of entry and points of control and we have plans to expand further as a situation evolves.

In total, we have supported more than 36 million health screenings and we have reached more than 35 million people with targeted risk communication and community engagement message.

I want to also add one point on Uganda because although the outbreak has been declared over, IOM continues to support for Prednis cross-border surveillance, screening, referral and population mobility mapping and all of this is to reduce the risk of reintroduction.

As you can see, the scale of the outbreak is major and such a scale requires additional resources.

The IOM office in DRC, it has revised it's six months funding requirements from 14.7 million USD to 69,000,000 USD.

As I said, our work is not only in DRC, it also includes the other neighbouring countries.

This means IO, Ms, overall regional appeal.

It has increased from 55.8 million USD to 110 million USD.

However, so far IOM has mobilised 29.6 million USD.

That means we still have a funding gap of approximately 80.4 million USD.

Before I conclude, allow me to highlight our key message, which is simple.

The response must move as fast as the outbreak because Ebola does not stop at borders, river crossings or displacement sites, and our response cannot stop there either.

We need continued support to detect cases early, strengthen surveillance, protect displaced and mobile population and reach communities along the major mobility corridors because every all are detected, every traveller screen and every case identified early can help us save lives and prevent further transmission.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Nehan.

Very, very clear.

[Other language spoken]

Let's see if there are questions for you.

We do have a question, Emma of Reuters.

Hey, just a clarification, I didn't quite catch what you were saying about identifying 60 confirmed Ebola cases or deaths across through mobility mapping.

Could you just explain is that about sneaking bodies across crossing points?

And secondly, please could you give us an update on on Ebola in the displacement camps?

And also tell us, has the shift in the epicentre of the outbreak to North Kivu from Itori change the dynamics in in camps?

[Other language spoken]

Are there fewer people displaced in North Kivu than Itori?

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

So you remember I talked about the importance of mapping the mobility of the people because when when people move, there's a chance of the the outbreak to continue in that direction.

So we have surveillance, surveillance systems in place, not just as IOM, but also the government's National Border Health Programme.

So through this surveillance, we have more than 700 alerts identified and this included some of these alerts included people who were deceased and when it was checked, when it was looked into the reasons of these these dead bodies, we have identified 66 zero confirmed Ebola cases.

So that is the issue around surveillance in in places where there is mobility.

You also highlighted the IDP sites.

As I said, yes, there is, there is special vulnerabilities in these sites because of, as I said, overcrowding, limited services and high mobility.

But maybe also important to highlight is the the case fertility rate.

Remember at the beginning I was mentioning more than 7700 confirmed cases with 3700 deaths.

So if you do the mathematics, it's more or less 48% case fatality rate.

But if you go to the IDP size, unfortunately the fertility rate increases and that is because of the reasons I mentioned.

That's why for us is IOM working in the IDP size.

The displacement sites is, is very important and an area of focus.

And in terms of the the last point on the on the shift as as, as if, if you're following since the beginning, you, you know that this is a very dynamic situation.

It's not just about, you know, changing it from North Kivu to to the other provinces, but in general, as we have a more and more health zones with outbreak declared, it is definitely changing the dynamic.

And that was one of the reasons actually, Emma that IOM had to increase its funding requirements because the the situation is now in in more health zones.

Thank you so very much.

I think Emma has a follow up for you.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thanks for your indulgence.

Did you tell me what the fatality rate is in the IDP sites and how many have died of Ebola there overall?

[Other language spoken]

We have weekly reports, situation reports that come every Friday.

I'm sure our colleagues can provide you with that.

But so far in the displacement sites the case fertility rate is as high as 81.

Happy to share with you the details after this.

[Other language spoken]

OK, So if you allow me maybe just to come in on the last question.

As Neon rightfully mentioned that the case fatality rate is is, is quite high.

So the 81% was reported in one of the meetings in by the IMST, the the, the, the, the intercontinental, the continental coordination body for the Ebola.

And since then, IOM is also working very closely with the surveillance team to make sure that we have more detailed information which we are able to share the detailed information, especially in the camps that IOM is currently supporting.

But just to add on also that there are quite a number of sites which are not under the cluster system.

And that is why Nehan was mentioning that one of our strategy is to expand into those areas that are not currently covered into the cluster system.

By numbers, there are over 250 sites.

There are pockets of sites or population that are staying within the host community and therefore this is an area that we need to look into now.

To add on also on the the 60 plus cases that we have managed to detect at the point of control and point of entry, some of these have been detected in informal routes and that's why from IOM side we don't just concentrate on those routes or PO ES that are quite formal, the international entry and all that.

What we do in the population mobility mapping, we try to understand where are people following, because usually when people know that there's screening in formal PO ES and all that, we realise that they divert and use what is largely called in Africa, the Panya routes, the small informal routes.

And that is where once we do population mobility mapping, we identify those routes and we are able to position some of the screening and surveillance in those areas.

And most of these movement of the dead bodies have been captured in this area.

And we can provide the latest update because we'll be releasing our Ctrip today by end of today, which has the most updated figures.

But just to mention, total to be very accurate is 60 plus and total is 69 in number at the moment over.

Thank you very much, Andrew.

That's much appreciated.

And and as mentioned, Omondi, we'll be sharing that centre up with you later today.

Colleagues, let's make sure there are no further questions for either of you.

That just seemed to be the case.

So Nikhan, Andrew, thank you very much for joining us at this briefing in Geneva and thanks to you as well, Omondi.

OK, colleagues, we're going to move to the situation in Nepal and connected online is Andrea Berardo, who's Nepal's the Nepal Deputy Country Director joining us from Kathmandu.

Thank you for your patience and sorry for the delay.

But over to you, Andrea.

And I know you're speaking about emergency food assistance in isolated communities, so very important subject indeed.

Andrea, over to you.

Thank you very much to for having me and giving me the opportunity to share a few points.

I like to share three points actually today with with the audience, first on the, on the situation and 2nd on the, on the complexity of the, the emergency response and the latest information according to, to assessment.

So first of all, tomorrow, March 1 month since the the devastating floods that swift down the modern rivers in north or Nepal, we've been our villages, roads, bridges and faming many lives.

The responses continue to be a government LED response with the humanitarian community including WP providing support as as required as WP.

We already completed a first round of in kind food assistance to flood affected areas with Russian covering 15,500 people with around 127 metric tonnes of food mixed commodities.

[Other language spoken]

The Humanitarian staging area was open back in 2015, actually one month before the the the devastating earthquake that hit back then.

The humanitarian staging area now is fully operational, is a coordination centre and logistic base OWP for the government and for partners.

WP has also established a common humanitarian office and storage facilities in Newark Court, which is in the heart of the affected areas, positioning and operational and coordination areas for the entire humanitarian community.

WP LED logistic and telecommunication clusters has provided coordination services including cargo and leads and transport to 70 partner humanitarian organisation.

For the next round of assistance, WP has planned to shift to a cash response wherever possible, wherever markets are functioning, also to include a stimulus to market and to give beneficiaries A dignified way to choose what they what they most need.

I was mentioning earlier.

My second point is on the complexity of the operation.

Many communities in they are in vulnerable situation and now reachable only by air due to the condition of the of the terrain.

Very mountainous area and our excess constraints also continue to be challenged by the the floods damage, the breeze and the end of the monsoon season which is just happening these days.

We have delivered by order as much as possible and these the most cost efficient options.

But where roads were destroyed and bridges were washed away, we delivered by helicopters.

The further where helicopters cannot land, we have been using humanitarian cargo drones.

This is a breakthrough the first time humanitarian cargo drones have been used to transport food and other commodities in a rapid onset emergencies.

It's a pioneering use of of these tool for delivery.

There's a lot of WP to reach our settlement that otherwise would have been taken days to be reached.

And again, a comparison with the the 2015 earthquake where hard to reach location where were reached by yacht, by mule, by porters, the famous Sherpa of Nepal.

These days we are taking minutes to reach those are to reach locations they otherwise would have taken days if at all possible.

These I was saying it's a breakthrough.

We believe that we can transform the humanitarian response in settings where last mile delivery was previously challenging or even impossible at all.

My Third Point is around the latest information that we have.

We have WP has run an assessment on the food security and market situation.

The assessment is giving us some good news and some not so good news.

First of all, the good news is that 92% of the survey population of the flood affected population about the greater food consumption.

This shows that the assistant that was promptly put in place is working.

We are saving off hunger and we are doing it in an effective way.

But the not so good news is that virtually all those housing have been relying on food assistance to access their staple food.

Yes, there is a positive food consumption results, but displacement remain widespread, productive assets and food stock have been lost, dietary diversity remain very weak and access to market is still very much constrained by the the damage infrastructures.

This means WFP and the entire humanitarian community must not step back now.

The community needs continuous support to restore livelihood and rebuild communities.

I'd like to acknowledge the fact that swift support by a number of key partners has allowed WP and other humanitarian organisation to swiftly respond in a matter of hours to these sudden onset disaster.

And WP was able to assist those in needs in an appropriate, appropriately timely and effective manner, which allow us to stay true to the principle of not leaving, leaving no one behind, making the best use of of the resources that the donor community entrusted us.

It's a collective effort.

We like to recognise that and this collective effort demonstrate that it is possible to swiftly act and effectively act when government humanitarian organisations and donors, they really come swiftly together and swiftly in action to provide assistance to the most in need.

[Other language spoken]

We were there before the disaster.

We have been there to provide humanitarian assistance right now and we will continue to stand by Nepal throughout the recovery period, which I'm sure it's looked like being quite quite longer, unfortunately.

These all from my side.

I'll thank you for for the opportunity and the time and I'm ready for any question.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Andrea, for your intervention.

Your comments very well noted.

Let's see if there are questions for you.

No, I don't see that's the case.

[Other language spoken]

I think you were, you were abundantly clear and I think the notes will be shared with their colleagues.

Thank you again for joining us and for your patience from Kathmandu no less.

So thank you and for the excellent work you're doing.

OK, colleagues, our last briefer and again, thank you for your patience.

Nancy Aberto, who is a Deputy Director of at the Food for the Food and Nutrition Division at the FAO, who is joining us from Rome, which to mark International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste for 2026.

So over to you, Nancy, and thanks for joining us.

Thank you, Rolando, and good morning, colleagues.

It's a pleasure to be here with you today speaking about the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste 2026.

In 2019, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the 29th of September as the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.

And every year, FAO partners with UNAP to commemorate this annual event, not only to raise awareness, but also to promote action to reduce food loss and waste and accelerate progress towards SDG 12 point three, which calls for having the per capita global food waste and reducing food losses along the supply chain by 2030.

This year's theme is the transformative potential of reducing food loss and waste.

Transformative because saving food from being lost or wasted saves nutrients, saves natural resources and saves money.

Yet unfortunately, globally there has been no apparent progress since 2015 on reducing food loss and waste.

The most recent estimates are that more than 13% of food is lost globally after harvest and before reaching retail, while another 19% of food available to consumers is wasted at retail, food service and household levels.

This is a total estimated economic loss of more than 1.4 trillion U.S.

[Other language spoken]

And with an estimated 645 million people facing hunger and almost 2.7 billion unable to afford a healthy diet, clearly we cannot afford business as usual.

Therefore, I'm pleased to share that this year the flagship event celebrating the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste will be conducted in conjunction with the World Forest Week and the FAO Committee on Forestry.

For the first time ever.

This offers a strategic opportunity to redefine what is possible by raising awareness on the connections between food loss and waste, land use, forest, agriculture and climate to inspire innovation and Dr collective action.

Agricultural expansion remains the leading driver of deforestation globally and at the same time, approximately 28% of agricultural land, or 1.4 billion hectares, an area larger than Canada, is used to produce food that is ultimately never eaten.

Food loss and waste also generates roughly 10% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, contributing significantly to climate change.

Integrating food loss and waste, sustainable forest management, and Agri food system transformation provides one solution for addressing multiple challenges.

Reducing food loss and waste makes better use of land and also makes better use of the water, energy and other resources already invested in food production, while helping to ease pressure on forest and other ecosystems.

FAO supports members in their ambitions to reduce food loss and waste, transform Agri food systems and protect natural resources, including our precious forest.

At this year's International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, FAO will share the latest updates on food loss estimates and will launch an interactive map featuring the 2024 estimates from the Food Loss Index, for which FAO is the custodian agency.

These data, when combined with the food waste estimates generated by UNEP, provide better information for targeted actions and tailored solutions.

Everyone is invited to join the FAO UNEP LED celebration of the 2026 International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste to be held 29 September from 12:30 to to 1400 hours Central Europe Summertime.

Together, let's raise our ambition, strengthen our partnerships, Dr innovation and scale investment.

We all have a role to play.

Thank you very much, Rolando, and thank you all for your time today.

Thank you very much, Nancy.

And indeed, we do have a role to play.

Staggering statistics, taking note of these figures that you shared with us.

And it's good to put it in perspective the way you did.

Well noted about the 29th of September.

Thank you very much.

We'll make sure to save that date.

I just want to make sure there aren't any questions for you.

That's not the case.

So and of course, your colleagues will share the information that you that you shared with us here at this podium.

So thank you, Nancy.

[Other language spoken]

Just a few notes from me to mention, of course, you're all focused on what's happening here as well as on the other side of the pond at the UNGA.

Just a few figures just to mention since last Friday when the General Assembly began last week, as you know, the general debate this week, the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres held over 90 bilaterals over the course of this week and I think close to 92 at this point.

We didn't share all the readouts with you because I think we'd be flooding your inboxes, but indeed, lots of information that is on the website, over 25 statements in addition to the readouts.

Many of those statements were shared with you, including remarks by the SG or the DSG, the deputy secretary General on on his behalf.

This is the the figures thus far.

And of course, the general debate continues and there'll be more readouts to be shared.

One statement I just wanted to flag, 2 statements I wanted to flag that were delivered yesterday by the Secretary General.

One Secretary General spoke at a ministerial meeting yesterday in support of the UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, and he said that across decades in the highly challenging environments, UNRWA has provided essential public services and prepared Palestine refugees for a more peaceful and dignified future.

But its mandate and work are in jeopardy, he warned.

The another statement that he addressed yesterday speaks to sea level rise in particular.

The Secretary General noted that in it was a presentation of report that in his report on sea level rise, he laid out laid the bare scale and speed of the danger of sea level rise.

He pointed out that in 2024, the global sea level rose approximately 6, almost 6 millimetres, the highest annual increase ever recorded and the pace is accelerating.

So do take a look at those statements, which we did share with you.

Couple other notes really quickly.

There is actually another statement I want to flag that will be delivered by the Deputy Secretary General on behalf of the Secretary General at 4:00 PM today, which will address will be an address to a high level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

So that's at 4:00 PM today press conferences, you heard at the the start of this press conference.

So this press briefing rather the Ed Harris or WIPO mentioned a press briefing by WIPO this coming Monday, Monday the 28th, Yes, Monday at 9:30.

So you took note of that, it's on Wipo's Global Innovation Index.

Another press conference I'd like to announce is 1, taking place on Tuesday the 29th in this room by the expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement.

2 of the members will be speaking to you here in this body, as you might remember, was set up by the Human Rights Council a few years ago.

Meetings, just to note that the Committee on the Rights of the Child will conclude it's 101st session today, after which it had reviewed the reports on Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Timor Leste, Uganda and Tanzania.

You've received all the notes on that and of course, you've received all the updates from our colleagues at the Human Rights Council on the 63rd session of the Council, which continues, believe that they are discussing the Universal Periodic Review reports today.

Let's see here almost done maybe just to mention on the last note that tomorrow is the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, a subject obviously being addressed here in Geneva through the Conference of Disarmament.

And now, on this International Day, the Secretary General says in his message.

We face a stark reality.

The threat of nuclear catastrophe is immediate and growing, and he notes that the failure of recent multilateral efforts to advance nuclear disarmament and reinforce non proliferation commitments has demonstrated the difficulty of consensus in the divided world.

So he says that it's time to choose dialogue over division, diplomacy over confrontation, and disarmament over destruction.

Very important message indeed to mark tomorrow's observance.

And that's all I have.

So thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

Is that a question for me?

[Other language spoken]

I'm afraid I don't have that information, Gorky.

I'll have to check specifically the, as you well know, the Secretary General election process is managed by states in New York.

There have been a number of ballots that been held and I don't have information at the top of my head.

Of course, we can share that with you.

But at the same time, you may want to consult with our colleagues in New York, particularly the spokespeople for the President of the General Assembly and and of course, the spokesperson's office there could provide more information.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks for the question, though, John.

Is that for me?

[Other language spoken]

Actually, I've got.

I've got a question if anyone is still tuning in from the humanitarian agencies, if they have any new information from the field on the renewed civil war in Ethiopia.

Hundreds reportedly have been killed in fighting between the warring sites.

If you've got something on that, that would be great.

[Other language spoken]

Let's maybe wait a second to see if anyone pops her hand up.

I think it's some have already dropped off on the call, but of course, you will have seen John, if you just give me a second, I'll draw it up here.

The statement that the Secretary General issued, it was Wednesday, I believe, and I'm sure you've seen that we did share that with you colleagues.

He, the Secretary General expressed his grave concern by the rapidly deteriorating situation in northern Ethiopia, including the seizure and occupation of the three airports of Mekele, Axiom and Shiro and reports of intensified fighting in in around Tigray in the spread of hostilities in neighbouring areas.

Secretary General called on all parties to exercise maximum restraint.

[Other language spoken]

Protect civilians, ensure safe and unhindered access to humanitarian partners to reach those in need, and avoid actions that could lead to a broader and more devastating conflict, the statement reads.

So we did share that with you.

Of course, we're keeping an eye on the situation in the Tigray region in the north of Ethiopia.

I'm not sure if colleagues have anything to add.

If not, maybe you can liaise with them or they can liaise with you thereafter after this briefing.

[Other language spoken]

Thanks for the question on this situation.

On that note, I think we have concluded this briefing.

So thank you very much.

Have a good afternoon and we'll see you here on Tuesday next.

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 25 September 2026