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© UNICEF Jabra is seven years old, she lives in Sana, Yemen. She is learning the correct way to wash her hands and how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.         25 June 2020 Humanitarian Aid Millions of children in the heart of the world’s worst humanitarian disaster could be pushed to the brink of starvation, due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the coronavirus pandemic, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.  Marking more than five years since conflict escalated in the country between Government forces and their allies, against Houthi rebel militias, the new  UNICEF  report warns the number of malnourished children could reach 2.4 million by end of year, almost half of all under-fives.  An additional 30,000 children could develop life-threatening severe acute malnutrition over the next six months. Yemen five years on: Children , conflict and  COVID-19  warns that as Yemen’s devastated

WFP/Glory Ndaka Women queuing for food rations in Cameroon practice social distancing to help combat the spread of COVID-19.         24 June 2020 Economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is projected to be more gradual than previously forecast, according to a report published on Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund ( IMF ). It estimates growth this year at -4.9 per cent, or nearly two percentage points below projections in April, indicating that the recession will be deeper and recovery slower. The latest  World Economic Outlook  is an update to data published two months ago. Subtitled  A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery , it warns that gains made over the past two decades in driving down extreme poverty could be in peril. A call for strong health systems The  IMF  explained that the report reflects “a higher-than-usual degree of uncertainty” around the projections, which are based on key assumptions a

25 June 2020 Author: Pascal Tanguay, Bangkok In May 2020, authorities in Myanmar seized a whopping  3700 litres of liquid fentanyl  — equivalent to about 30 bathtubs’ worth — alongside other drugs, precursors and weaponry. The lethal drug is increasingly being found cut into common illicit substances as the opioid epidemic rages in North America and Europe.  50 to 100 times  more potent than morphine, its growing presence in Asian illicit drug markets will likely prove disastrous. In 2017, the opioid epidemic claimed the lives of more than  70,000 Americans  and close to  4000 Canadians . Opioid overdose is the leading cause of unintentional injury and death in the United States.  North America  accounts for around a quarter of all opioid users worldwide and just below 10 per cent of all opiate users,  a subset of opioid users , globally. Estimates place the number of people who  inject drugs  (generally opioids) at around 2.5 million across North America, or about 16 pe