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UN AGENCY ANNOUNCES START OF CLINICAL TRIAL FOR RIVER BLINDNESS DRUG  1 July 2009 – The United Nations health agency today announced the  launch of a clinical trial in three African countries for a drug that could help eliminate the debilitating illness commonly known as river blindness, which threatens over 100 million people across the continent.The development of the drug, moxidectin, is being conducted through a collaboration of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, which is executed by the World Health Organization (WHO/TDR), and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Moxidectin is being investigated for its potential to kill or sterilize the adult worms of Onchocerca volvulus which cause onchocerciasis – also called river blindness because the blackfly which transmits the disease breeds in fast flowing rivers, and blindness is the most incapacitating symptom of the disease which also causes debilitating skin disease. Currently, river blindness is controlled by ivermectin, which has contributed to significantly controlling the disease in endemic countries. [ Read the rest... ] 
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UN HEALTHE AGENCY URGES GREATER FUNDING FOR DISPLACED IN PAKISTAN  30 June 2009 – Extra funding is urgently needed to strengthen disease control efforts, re-stock rapidly dwindling supplies of essential drugs and improve access to reproductive health services in north-western Pakistan, where some 2 million people have been uprooted by violence, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) says.Eric Laroche, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Action in Crises, warned today that the agency could run out of supplies of some key drugs within two or three weeks without an injection of funding. Dr. Laroche is currently in Pakistan to assess the situation and support the agency’s efforts to bring relief to civilians in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Fierce fighting between Government forces and armed militants, especially in the Swat Valley, have displaced waves of people this year, and left UN agencies scrambling to assist. Dr. Laroche said that while he has been impressed by the level of services he has seen inside camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), he remains concerns about the vast majority of displaced who are now living with host communities in Pakistani towns and villages. [ Read the rest... ]
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DARFUR PEACE TALKS SUSPENDED, TO RESUME NEXT MONTH-UN  UN: 19 June 2009 – The current round of ceasefire talks between the Government of Sudan and a Darfur rebel group have been suspended, a United Nations spokesperson told reporters in New York today.Michele Montas said that ongoing negotiations with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), held in the Qatari capital of Doha, are expected to start up again at the end of July. The sticking point involves the timing of the release of prisoners, with the JEM calling for their freedom before an agreement on the cessation of hostilities is reached, according to Ms. Montas. She added that during this period, consultations with other major stakeholders in the peace process, which began on 27 May, will continue. [ Read the rest... ]
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WORLD DISASTERS REPORT 2009: EARLY WARNING & EARLY ACTION VITAL  Doha: (Agencies: 17/6/2009): The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has issued its annual publication of 'The World Disasters Report which has focused this year on 'Early Warning & Early Action'.Each year the Report takes an in-depth look at specific aspects of disasters, with this year's Report focusing on the need for developing an "Early Warning, Early Action" approach that would protect people from disasters. The Qatari Red Crescent Society, a member of the Federation, launched the report in a press conference in Doha yesterday (Wednesday, 17th June 2009). Reviewing the report, Mr. Khalid Ghanim al-Ali, the executive director of the Qatari Red Crescent said that the Report is a major step forward in developing a comprehensive understanding and workable set of solutions for the growing challenge of disasters. He added that with the right kind of support many communities could avoid the vast numbers of deaths that often result from disasters. [ Read the rest... ]
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3RD TRAINING SESSION FOR CIVIL SOCIETY INSTITUTIONS IN THE GULF AND YEMEN, HELD IN DOHA  Doha, June 28 / QNA / NHRC, and the Arab Organization for the Rights the Disabled and the Department of civil society and the Arab League in cooperation with the "Ford Foundation" are organizing the third training session of the organizations of civil society in the Arab Gulf and Yemen 28th-30th, June, 2009. This session is being held in the context of the program to stimulate the rights of persons with disabilities in the Middle East and North Africa. The program is a joint venture between the Arab Organization for the Disabled and the Ford Foundation launched in early November 2007. The Session is designed to strengthen and empower people with disabilities and help them to organize themselves, to acquire skills of cooperation and leadership as well as promoting community awareness on the needs [ Read the rest... ]
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UN ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT-ELECT LINKS PEACE AND SECURITY TO POVERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS  UN: 12 June 2009 – The President-elect of the United Nations General Assembly today said tackling poverty and human rights issues is essential for global peace and security and would be high on the agenda of the forthcoming session of the 192-member body.Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya told a news conference at UN Headquarters that the Assembly’s “priorities are peace and security, a question that concerns the entire world, a question that will undoubtedly be considered in many different contexts and under different items.” Among them, he said, was poverty. “We have a world of rich people and poor people and the gap between them is forever widening, and that places a great responsibility on all of us, particularly if we truly want to avoid further wars,” he said. “We should allocate enough efforts and enough resources to fight poverty, disease, and to provide for good education and healthcare.” Mr. Treki said, “Freedom and human rights in social, economic and cultural terms – rights to food, to housing, to education and heath care – these are all extremely important issues that have to do with our peace and security.” [ Read the rest... ]
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LIBYAN DIPLOMAT ELECTED UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT  UNITED NATIONS: (10/6/2009): Libyan diplomat Ali Treky was elected on Wednesday as president of the 64th session of the UN General Assembly (GA).Treky, who previously served as Libya's foreign minister and later as the country's UN envoy, was elected by acclamation at a plenary meeting of the 192-member body. He will replace the current GA president, Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, when the next assembly session convenes on Sept. 15. In his acceptance speech, Treky said that under his presidency, the General Assembly will continue to push forward the reform of the United Nations, in particular the reform of the Security Council. "UN reform, in all its various aspects, especially reforming the Security Council and revitalization of the General Assembly, must continue to be one of our priorities," he told the delegates at the meeting. [ Read the rest... ]
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SUPREME COUNCIL FOR HEALTH: QATAR IS FREE OF SWINE FLU  Doha: QNA 8/6/2009: An official source at the Supreme Council for Public Health has stated that Qatar is free of both bird and Swine flu and that concerned Council departments will keep the public immediately informed should any cases of the disease occur. The source added that all concerned council departments are on stand by to tackle any emergency in this regard. An official source at the Council has meanwhile said that the Council is working in close contact with concerned World Health Organization departments and other regional organs in monitoring and reporting on the situation in the country. According to the source the Supreme Council is already promoting a public awareness campaign in this regard; the official source also urged the public to be aware of unfounded rumours spread by irresponsible individuals in the country stressing that such rumours should verified with the Council.
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IRAQI AMBASSADOR VISITS NHRC HQ  Doha: (NHRC: 3/5/2009): H.E. NHRC president Dr. Ali Ben Smaikh al-Merry today received at NHRC headquarters, the Iraqi ambassador, Mr. Jawad Kazim Jawad. Bilateral relations and a number of topics of mutual interest were taken up during the meeting.Straddling the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and stretching from the Gulf to the Anti-Taurus Mountains, modern Iraq occupies roughly what was once ancient Mesopotamia, one of the cradles of human civilisation. In the Middle Ages Iraq was the centre of the Islamic Empire, with Baghdad the cultural and political capital of an area extending from Morocco to the Indian subcontinent. Iraq has the world's third largest reserves of crude oil. [ Read the rest... ]
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LACK OF FUNDS THREATENS AID TO PAKISTAN\  UN: 1 June 2009 – The United Nations said today that the number of people displaced by the conflict in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province has risen above 2.5 million, and a shortage of funds could cut relief services there.UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York that the new figure, an increase of about 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) over last week’s estimate, was based on numbers collected by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and Pakistani authorities, which are registering people both inside and outside camps. More than two million people have been driven from their homes by clashes between the Government and militants in the past month, in addition to the 400,000 already displaced in fighting last year. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in a briefing to the General Assembly today, emphasized the need for greater support to scale up the response of the international community and the Pakistani Government to the situation. “The human suffering is immense,” he said. [ Read the rest... ]
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