Monday morning. As usual, Stéphanie, 4 years old, a kindergartener, has to go to school. At 6am, her mother Hélène goes to wake her up so that she can get ready. She finds her daughter unconscious. Panic-stricken and distraught, she tells her husband and they rush to the hospital. The diagnosis was made: Stéphanie was suffering from neuromalaria or pernicious access, the most severe form of malaria. She was taken to the intensive care unit and regained consciousness only days later, on Friday.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are perhaps the most ambitious undertaking for global peace and prosperity since the formation of the United Nations. Achieving the goals requires that the UN system work together within and across countries like never before.
“I can tell you, perseverance pays,” says Bernadette Gomina, who ran unsuccessfully for the legislature in 2005 and 2010. She was elected in 2015 and reelected in 2020. “[Women parliamentarians] face issues at many levels: [lack of] finances, discriminatory behaviours and mindsets, but us women … we have our part to play; we must change our mindsets and get to work, together, to change this situation.”
You never know what crisis might strike, something that calls on the UN to act big and fast. If the world didn’t understand this before COVID-19, it does now. But an emergency can strike at any level.
United Nations country teams around the world continue to provide medical, logistical and socio-economic support to local authorities, coordinating resources to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Through stronger coordination, these teams are mobilising local, regional, and global partners to provide life-saving medical supplies to vulnerable communities, combat misinformation on vaccine efficacy, and ensure equitable distribution of vaccine through the COVAX programme.
Out of all children worldwide who die under the age of 5 years, half are in Africa. WHO, UNICEF and partners are working to reduce the number of childhood deaths and the agony that goes with them.
For Sister Juliet Lithemba, the past year has been “nothing short of grace and mercy from above,” as she explains it. The 77-year-old resident of Mt Royal Convent of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, located in Lesotho’s Leribe district, didn’t know much about COVID-19 until her convent home and fellow sisters were infected by the deadly virus.
The United Nations has launched a $29.2 million global funding appeal to help those affected by the eruptions of the La Soufrière volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and other impacted countries.
When I met Akuvi Sossah, 52, mother of four, at a medical centre in a suburb of Lomé, the capital city of Togo, in early April, she proudly showed me the confirmation code that her son had helped her obtain after she registered on her mobile phone for COVID-19 vaccination.
We are living in unprecedented times. COVID-19 continues to devastate health systems, cripple economies, and exacerbate inequalities across the globe. As I write these words, the Caribbean region remains a hotspot of a disease, which is highlighting a simple reality: global crises require global solutions. This pandemic is our opportunity to strengthen regional collaboration and global solidarity to address our shared challenges and move forward. This can only happen if we are courageous and dedicated enough to seize the opportunities presented to us.
