The world we share
News and context on the challenges shaping lives around the world, and the efforts helping communities move forward.
The UNDP 2026 Multidimensional Poverty Index shows 1.2 billion people in poverty – 51.5 million more than 2025 – with 617 million children and 83 % living in rural areas, underscoring a widening humanitarian challenge.
Read the storyClimate & resilience
A rehabilitated agropastoral dam in Torla, Côte d’Ivoire, now stores and releases water reliably through the dry season, easing competition between herders and farmers and enabling vegetable gardens and school attendance.
Humanitarian aid
A magnitude‑7.2 earthquake on Panama’s Pacific coast prompted the Red Cross Society of Panama to mobilise volunteers for first aid, psychosocial support, water, shelter and evacuation assistance, while the IFRC readied its global response mechanisms.
Climate & resilience
More than 1,400 people died, 84 of them children, and nearly 5,300 remain missing after a glacial collapse flooded valleys in August. UNICEF and the Red Cross are delivering airlifted aid, but isolated communities still face market disruptions, shortages and lingering trauma as warming Himalayas raise the risk of another disaster.
Humanitarian aid
UN agencies report at least 53 women and girls detained for dress‑code violations while nearly 6.5 million Afghans return from Iran and Pakistan, facing shelter shortages, documentation gaps and limited education.
Health
After more than a month in COVID‑19 isolation and the death of her father, a Zambia Red Cross officer used her experience to launch Psychological First Aid training and champion mental health within humanitarian response.
Climate & resilience
With extreme heat, historic floods and a strong El Niño, the UN urges stronger emissions cuts, renewable expansion and streamlined climate finance before the November COP31 summit in Türkiye.
Health
Kenya recorded its first Ebola fatality on 5 October, prompting authorities and UN partners to quarantine relatives, health workers and airline passengers while scaling up surveillance to stop community spread.
Humanitarian aid
Over 31,000 children arrived in Europe last year, many unaccompanied and exposed to abuse, while more than 45 million people in the Near East and North Africa confront crisis‑level hunger amid severe funding shortfalls.
Humanitarian aid
Over 700,000 displaced people in Tawila and 65% of Sudan’s displaced population confront severe shortages of health care, food, water and protection while only a fraction of the WHO appeal is funded and sanctions remain in place.
Humanitarian aid
UNDP reports that 68% of Myanmar’s 55 million people now face multidimensional poverty, with health and living‑standard deficits driving over 80% of deprivation and climate risks hitting one‑in‑five households.
Health
The World Health Organization released its inaugural global guidance on child obesity, urging diet, activity and mental‑health support while limiting drugs and surgery, as around 170 million children and adolescents worldwide face the condition.
