“Aggressive and pervasive marketing of foods and beverages high in fats, sugars, and salt to children is responsible for unhealthy dietary choices,” said Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of the UN health agency’s Department of Nutrition and Food Safety. “Calls to responsible marketing practices have not had a meaningful impact.”
As such, he said governments should establishstrong and comprehensive regulations.
The new WHO guidance recommends that countries implement comprehensive mandatory policies to protect children of all ages from the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages that are high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or salt, a food grouping known by its acronym HFSS.
A long time coming
More than a decade after Member States endorsed WHO recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children, young people continue to be exposed to powerful marketing of HFSS foods and non-alcoholic beverages, consumption of which is associated with negative health effects, the agency said.
Food marketing remains a threat to public health and continues to affect children’s food choices, intended choices, and their dietary intake, while also negatively influencing the development of their norms about food consumption, according to WHO.
Context-driven policymaking
The recommendation is based on a systematic review of the evidence on policies to restrict food marketing, including on contextual factors, the health agency said.
Policies to restrict food marketing are shown to be most effective if they are mandatory, protect children of all ages, and use a government-led nutrient profile model to classify foods to be restricted from marketing. They should also be sufficiently comprehensive, the agency said.
Processed, less nutritious foods are skillfully marketed and widely available and affordable, while nutritious foods are often more expensive and unaffordable to many.
Children-centred policies
WHO’s used the definition of a child from the Convention on the Rights of the Child to ensure that policies protect all children. The agency also updated recommendations for countries to use a nutrient profile model, which governments typically develop.
Supportive food environments
Policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing are best implemented as part of a comprehensive policy approach to create enabling and supportive food environments, the agency said.
To do this, adopting WHO recommendations and adapting them to local contexts require local consultations, with mechanisms in place to safeguard public health policymaking from undue influence by real, perceived, or potential conflicts of interest.
All WHO guidelines aim at supporting governments in creating healthy food environments to facilitate healthy dietary decisions, establish lifelong healthy eating habits, improve dietary quality, and decrease the risk of noncommunicable diseases worldwide, the agency said.
Speaking from Kinshasa, Dr. Jorge Castilla, WHO’s Senior Emergency Officer, told journalists at the regular briefing in Geneva there had been a major increase in displacement due to ongoing violence fuelled by armed groups, leaving around 7.4 million in need of health assistance.
Disease and displacement
Since March 2022, almost three million people have been forced from their homes in the eastern part of the country, in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Dr. Castilla said many on the move had been repeatedly attacked. In the Goma area, “when they move, also diseases move with them. Cholera has spread through the area, and it is now prevalent with 25,000 cases. The area where they arrived has the highest number.”
The country’s health system is under huge pressure due to overlapping outbreaks of COVID-19, measles, polio, mpox. Yellow fever, cholera and malaria are on the rise due to recurrent natural disasters and lack of access to safe water and sanitation for those on the move, said WHO.
Cholera persists
Agency data shows that since mid-March, the DRC has been experiencing an average of 1,000 cholera cases per week. As of 12 June, a total of 24,562 cases and 156 deaths have been reported.
A measles vaccination campaign is planned for the coming days said WHO. The two provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu alone account for 82 per cent of the more than 136,000 measles cases recorded this year so far, which include 2,000 deaths.
In addition to the rampant insecurity, flooding earlier this year killed and injured hundreds of people and affected 36 health facilities in North Kivu, South Kivu, Kasai and Tshopo provinces, further increasing health needs.
Attacks by armed groups on health facilities have also impacted the ability to provide healthcare.
Health system ‘really under stress’
Thanks to the landslides triggered by the flooding, facilities were destroyed along with the loss of life and injuries, “so the entire health system is really under stress”, said Dr. Castilla.
Hunger and malnutrition are growing, said the WHO expert, forcing some of the displaced to return to areas of origin sporadically just to survive and exposing them to further violence, mental health shocks and psychosocial strain.
“There is this increase in malnutrition and this increasing gap between the needs and the assistance,” noted Dr. Castilla. “The whole UN humanitarian system decided on the 16th of this month to do a three-month scale-up for everybody in order to improve the actions of the different partners there.”
Highest in the world
Close to 26 million people are facing acute food insecurity this year, he added, the highest number of food insecure anywhere in the world.
Acute malnutrition is severely affecting children under the age of five, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Of the $174 million required to provide urgent health assistance, only $23 million (13 per cent) has been mobilized so far, WHO said.
“If we want a healthy world, then it needs to be a kind and welcoming one too,” said Benedict Phillips, the UNAIDS Director of Communications and Global Advocacy.
That means ensuring all communities are included, especially marginalized groups, he said.
However, in many countries, stigma, discrimination, and criminalization tend to make transgender people invisible, with extreme forms of discrimination leading to even the denial of the existence of gender-diverse people, UNAIDS said.
Courtesy of UNAIDS
India is working towards employment equity, including through job fairs like this one, aimed at accelerating the inclusion of the transgender community.
Restoring treasure boxes
The Unbox Me campaign aims to change that. Created in India in 2022, the campaign is part of an ongoing UNAIDS collaboration with advertising agency FCB India.
“In India, children usually have a box which they use to store their most precious possessions, but in the case of transgender children they need to hide their box of treasures, since some of their most precious possessions don’t fit the gender norm that society expects them to conform to,” said Swati Bhattacharya, FCB India’s creative chairperson.
Going global
To raise awareness, the campaign launched a film, recreating the childhood treasure boxes of transgender adults. The contents, from a string of beads to a razor, provide rich conversation starters that teachers are using in classrooms across India.
The initiative sought to bring home the reality that many transgender children are denied their true identity, UNAIDS said.
Currently, more than 90 per cent of transgender people in India leave their homes or are thrown out by age 15, UNAIDS reported. Inevitably, many live on the street with no money or education, often relying on sex work to survive.
Now, the agency’s pilot project has gone global.
Ready for their close ups
“The idea where people were ‘unboxing’ different aspects of their life has inspired different interpretations in different places,” Mr. Phillips said.
That inspiration is now playing out in countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, he said.
Partnering with photographer Sean Black and a transgender shelter, UNAIDS launched the FRESH initiative in Brazil through which a group of residents participated in a fashion shoot.
Their moments of “unboxing” were captured in a UNAIDS-produced film.
“When I saw my picture, I saw an empowered woman,” said Rihanna Borges, who currently works with other transgender women to provide counselling and peer support.
Leaving invisibility behind
“I think the role I play today is incredible, working with other sisters, talking to them about the importance of self-care and HIV combination prevention,” she said. “I want us to feel empowered and say, ‘Today, I am somebody’ and leave this invisibility behind.”
For Alicia Kalloch, unboxing her self-portraits gave her confidence.
“This insecurity comes from our experiences, and from our past,” she said. “But, with each passing day, I had the opportunity to strengthen myself, to discover the beauty that I sometimes thought I didn’t have, so I felt more confident.”
Sasha Santos, who participated in the photo shoot, said “there are so many bad things that we go through”.
“My portraits from the photo sessions gave me the certainty that I’m capable of many things like going to college, owning a house and having children,” she said.
24 nations criminalize transgender people
Transgender people around the world are often marginalized and experience discrimination, and violence, UNAIDS reported. As a result, transgender people have a 34 times greater risk of acquiring HIV than other adults.
Up to 24 countries in the world criminalize or prosecute transgender people. For example, early in the COVID-19 response, some governments instituted gender-specific mobility days during lockdowns, which resulted in arrests against transgender people out on the “wrong” day, the agency said.
UNAIDS works closely with the transgender community, civil society organizations and governments all around the world to decriminalize transgender people, secure their rights, and ensure that they have access to health, education, and social protection and that they are protected from abuse and exploitation.
Marching with pride
As LGBTQ communities and their supporters attended Pride Month marches across the world throughout June, Mr. Phillips of UNAIDS said the agency lends its support, even in the face of criticism.
“The backlash that we face as the UN agency is, even at its worst, nothing compared to the backlash that frontline communities experience,” he said. “We are on the side of those marching because what they are marching for is for dignity and inclusion.”
He said the grim consequences of marginalizing people is that AIDS “has not gone away”.
“We have the tools of prevention, testing, and treatment,” he said. “If we had measures to ensure that our societies addressed the inequalities that hold them back, we would already have ended this pandemic.”
With the monsoon refugees in the cramped camps in Cox’s Bazar are expected to be impacted by an increase of dengue, which last year accounted for 1,283 cases in the Rohingya camps. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPS
by Rafiqul Islam (dhaka)
Inter Press Service
DHAKA, Jun 27 (IPS) – With the monsoon in Bangladesh, Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar have emerged as a dengue hotspot, with the mosquito-borne disease continuing to spread among the stateless refugees.
“A total of 1,066 dengue cases were reported in highly cramped refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar up to May 23 this year, while the case tally was only 426 among the local community there,” Dr Nazmul Islam, Director of Disease Control and Line of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), said.
However, the latest data of the DGHS revealed that 1,283 people were infected with and 26 people died of dengue in the Rohingya camps and surrounding host community in Ukhiya and Teknaf upazilas of Cox’s Bazar from January 1 to June 6, 2023.
Nazmul said the dengue infection rate is highest in the Rohingya camps.
“Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar have the highest number of dengue patients. Last year, over 17,000 dengue patients were identified there. The number of dengue patients is so high this year, too,” he said.
Official data showed that dengue cases increased significantly in 2022 when the monsoon started. Experts fear the dengue situation will be more acute in the Rohingya camps during the monsoon this year.
Bangladesh witnessed its largest influx of Rohingya refugees in 2017 following a military crackdown in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. According to UNHCR, about 7,73,972 Rohingya people entered the country as refugees, totaling nearly 10 million with the previous influxes.
The forcibly displaced Rohingyas took shelter in overcrowded makeshift camps where they lacked access to civic amenities, including education, food, clean water, and proper sanitation, and also face natural disasters and infectious disease transmission.
“Most refugees have no adequate access to clean water, sanitary facilities, or healthcare. The monsoon season also poses a huge threat to thousands of Rohingya families living in makeshift shelters as dengue outbreak emerges in camps during the period,” said Ro Arfat, a Rohingya refugee.
Nazmul said Rohingya refugees live in a limited space in the camps where there is not enough scope to runoff rainwater, so stagnant water creates an enabling environment for the breeding Aedes mosquito, carrier of the dengue virus.
He said the risk of dengue infections climbs in densely populated areas. With the monsoon, the dengue situation could turn dangerous in the refugee camps.
Dr Iqbal Kabir, Professor and Director at the Climate Change and Health Promotion Unit, the Ministry of Health, Bangladesh, said in recent years, environmental changes have been markedly observed throughout the globe, and there is no exception in Bangladesh.
“The nature of the Aedes mosquito is that it must bite five humans to suck blood as per its demand, and an Aedes mosquito lays more than 200 eggs a time. Once they get suitable humidity and temperature, mosquito breeding occurs,” Kabir said.
He observed that dengue spreads very fast, but the authorities have not controlled dengue infections in the highly-crowded refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
During the monsoon, Bangladesh experiences spikes in dengue outbreaks. In 2022, 17 refugees died from dengue infections in Rohingya camps.
Despite having a high dengue infection rate in the camps, lack of awareness about the virus and the absence of prompt diagnosis of the disease make the Rohingya refugees more vulnerable.
“An Aedes mosquito can infect many within seconds, and keeping densely populated refugee camps safe from mosquitoes is really difficult. So there is a high possibility of a severe outbreak in the refugee camps,” said Mahbubur Rahman, Civil Surgeon, and Chief Health Officer for Cox’s Bazar.
Urgent Action Needed
The burden of dengue is related to the changes in rainfall patterns. The rainfall pattern has been changed. Pre-monsoon erratic rainfall is linked with the increase of vectors.
Unusual rainfall occurred in Cox’s Bazar area earlier this year, triggering dengue outbreaks in the camps.
Kabir said the dengue national guideline should be revisited to check dengue outbreaks across the country, including Rohingya camps.
He suggested launching a crash programme to prevent dengue infections in Rohingya camps; if clustering could be ensured, it would be easy to deal with the dengue situation there.
Golam Rabbani, head of BRAC’s Climate Bridge Fund, said the Bangladesh government should initiate research and increase the authorities’ capacity to tackle any future outbreak of dengue in the country.
He says the Department of Public Health and the DGHS should identify dengue as one of the most climate-sensitive diseases and improve their disease profile, suggesting the government initiate investment and policy interventions to address the dengue in Bangladesh.
This summer will be “the first in more than three years that many of us will enjoy without the looming threat of COVID-19”, but the life-threatening virus has not gone away completely, said WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, told reporters at a virtual press conference from Copenhagen.
Each week, the coronavirus causes at least 1,000 new deaths across the region every week, he said, outlining other health concerns at the start of the holiday season.
Coping with “long COVID”
Over the first three years of the global health emergency, 36 million people across the region may have experienced “long COVID”, a complex condition that scientists still know very little about, according to data from WHO’s partner, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in the United States.
“That’s approximately one in 30 Europeans over the past three years,” explained Dr. Kluge, underscoring that those affected may still be finding it hard to return to “normal life”.
Besides harming people in its protracted form, “COVID-19 exploited an epidemic of diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic lung illnesses, which account for 75 per cent of mortality in our region today,” he said, reiterating WHO’s call for more research to develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long COVID.
Response to the threat
Dr. Kluge encouraged all eligible, especially those of vulnerable groups, to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We should ensure at least 70 per cent vaccine coverage for these groups, including both primary and additional booster doses,” he said.
He also advocated for more physical activity and a healthier lifestyle. Undertaking, if possible, 25 minutes of moderate exercise a day, quitting smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, and limiting salt intake could significantly increase one’s resilience to both infectious and non-communicable diseases, he added.
“Last year in our region, extreme heat claimed 20,000 lives between June and August,” he said.
Limiting outdoor activity, staying hydrated, keeping homes cool, and having more time to rest are some of the ways to survive the heat, he said, asking people to “look out for each other” and to check in on elderly relatives and neighbours.
Containing mpox
A recent resurgence of mpox infections appeared in the United States and then in Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Dr. Kluge said .
While only 22 new mpox cases were recorded in the European region during the month of May, he suggested that people in high-risk groups get vaccinated, limit contact with others in the case of symptoms, and avoid close physical contact, including sexual, with someone who has mpox.
Welcoming the United Kingdom’s efforts to continue its vaccination programme, he urged other countries to further reduce barriers to testing, vaccination, and care for persons in high-risk groups.
“I first started taking drugs when I was 15,” says 49-year-old Prapat Sukkeaw. “I smoked marijuana, but it was laced with heroin. I felt like I was floating, and it meant that I could forget about all the problems that I faced as a teenager. It was a beautiful feeling.”
Prapat Sukkeaw is one of an estimated 57,000 people who currently injects drugs in Thailand. His drugs of choice, marijuana and heroin, reflect a period in Thailand’s recent history when both illegal narcotics were the main stimulants being trafficked out of the storied Golden Triangle, a remote and somewhat inaccessible region which includes northern Thailand as well as Myanmar and Laos.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
49-year-old Prapat Sukkeaw has used drugs since the age of 15.
Employed by a non-governmental organization (NGO), he has on occasion wanted to give up heroin due to pressure from family and friends. Now, he has recognized that, even if he admits to being addicted, taking drugs “is my preference and my right”. He has now started taking the synthetic drug methamphetamine, as heroin has become progressively more expensive.
His focus has moved from abstaining from drugs to living with the side effects and managing the potential harm of their prolonged use, for example by not sharing needles.
Like all Thai citizens, Mr. Sukkeaw has access to universal health care, but he found that as a person who uses drugs, he was stigmatized and discriminated against by health care workers. He was referred to Ozone, an NGO based in a suburb of the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Ozone’s goal is to reduce the health and social impacts of drug addiction, promoting abstinence, but also supporting clients who want to carry on using and ensuring that they have access to the health services they require.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
A hepatitis C test is prepared for a client at Ozone.
“Our clients who travel from around Thailand to Ozone welcome our non-judgmental approach,” said Ngammee Verapun, the centre’s director, himself a person who uses multiple drugs on a regular basis. “We are a community which values all people. We are client-centred and offer peer support treating everyone equally, no matter their background.”
Ozone offers a variety of services including needle exchanges and HIV testing as well as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) which reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex or injecting drugs. It also partners with Dreamlopments, a hepatitis C service provider which offers integrated healthcare free of charge. Hepatitis C is a viral liver infection spread by sharing needles. Its activities are supported by UNODC, although a funding shortfall has meant that the centre has had to close many of its outreach services in other parts of Thailand.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
Karen Peters, UNODC.
From punitive to progressive drug laws
Historically, Thailand has severely punished people who have broken strict drug laws. However, since a change in the law in 2021, the legal system has shifted towards rehabilitation for people who use drugs.
Speaking ahead of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, marked annually 26 June, Karen Peters, UNODC’s Bangkok-based regional drugs and health focal point, said: “Now people are allowed alternatives. It is not an ideal choice, but they are given the choice to attend a treatment facility or go to prison.”
The law is progressive in other ways, as harm reduction is specifically highlighted as an objective, which, according to Karen Peters, allows organizations like Ozone “to function within the confines of the legal and justice system”.
It is also helping to shift “the narrative around people who use drugs in Thailand from being socially marginalized”, she said.
Tackling stigmatization
The stigmatization of people who take drugs nevertheless continues, but according to Dr. Phattarapol Jungsomjatepaisal, the director of the National Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Committee in the Ministry of Public Health, the new legislation means that more “health service providers are being trained to act in a non-stigmatizing manner”.
He says that the reaction from people who use drugs has been “good” as there is a recognition that ultimately, they should receive better care in hospitals and health centres under Thailand’s universal health coverage system, while continuing to have the option to access services in community-led centres like Ozone.
HIV and hepatitis C
One major concern remains the high prevalence of HIV and hepatitis C amongst people who inject drugs in a country where HIV rates are otherwise decreasing. In Thailand, an estimated eight per cent of drug users have HIV, approximately 3,800 people.
The rate of hepatitis C, at 42 per cent, is “very frightening”, according to Dr. Patchara Benjarattanaporn, the country director of UNAIDS, the UN agency leading the global effort to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
Despite ongoing concerns about the health outcomes for people who use drugs, Dr. Benjarattanaporn believes that Thailand could become a model for the region’s countries facing similar challenges.
“The new narcotic law and the community-led aspect of treatment for drug users gives hope that Thailand can control cases, and this is a development that other countries are watching,” he said.
Back at Ozone, one client is receiving counseling about PrEP and HIV prevention, and another is undergoing a hepatitis test. The peer support remains a key element in attracting people to use its services, and it is now hoped that the new legislation will lead to less discrimination and will enable others to access similar services through more government health facilities.
Afghanistan, one of the world’s largest producers of heroin and methamphetamine – most of it smuggled abroad – is home to an estimated 3.5 million drugs users, according to the UN.
The worsening crisis has left most of the country’s drug treatment and rehabilitation centers struggling to cope.
A walk through what is considered in Kabul to be a ‘gold standard’ drug treatment centre is heart-breaking. The conditions in the 1,000-bed facility are dire. Since the Taliban came to power in 2021, international funding has dried up, leaving underpaid, poorly trained staff to deal with patients.
Food is scarce, and what little is available provides scant nutrition. Pharmacy cabinets are practically empty, so recovering patients’ bodies are shocked into detoxification.
My children have no-one to feed them
Residents of this facility, like those throughout the country, are expected to go through a 45-day programme, where they are provided medical services and counselling, according to authorities, after which they undergo an assessment. This is done to determine whether they can return to their families.
The de facto Taliban authorities have ‘motivated’ these people, most of whom are malnourished and homeless, to live here ‘voluntarily’ after they are brought in by outreach teams.
One man told UN News that he’s been living here for 6 months. “My children have no-one to feed them,” he said.
Conditions outside the prison-like walls of the treatment centre can be equally grim. Along with grinding poverty and ongoing insecurity, the region’s climate-driven weather extremes can be punishing for those living on the streets facing bitterly cold winters and scorching hot summers.
There would seem to be no end in sight to their suffering.
UN News / Ezzat El-Ferri
Entrance to the UNODC Information Centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Centre for knowledge
Yet, across the border, in Uzbekistan, there is a beacon of hope.
In the country’s historic capital city, Tashkent, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for Central Asia has brought together a group of dedicated professionals to form its ‘Information Centre for Researching and Analyzing Transnational Threats Related to Drugs and Crime.’
The head of the Centre Salome Flores says her team’s mission is clear: “to produce knowledge that is objective, impartial, and well-integrated for the right people at the right time.”
This, she told UN News, allows decision-makers to do just that: take informed decisions. It also helps in developing an understanding of the scope of the drug problem in the region, particularly in Afghanistan, where in 2022 opium production represented nine to 14 per cent of the GDP and synthetic drug production is rising rapidly.
The centre receives data from various sources, including from governments, open sources, social media, academic research, statistics, and of course from counterparts on the ground in Afghanistan.
However, the most instrumental tool the team uses in its work is the methodology built by UNODC over the past three decades to remotely identify crops.
Crop ‘signatures’
By combining ground surveys with advanced technology and satellite imagery, the agency has been able to create what are called ‘signatures’ to distinguish one crop from another. This allows UNODC to pinpoint with laser accuracy where opium poppy is being produced and cultivated.
The signatures were developed over many years by comparing satellite imagery with what is known as ground truths. The experts at the UN agency were able to develop hundreds of signatures using this method which required surveyors to visit specific GPS locations to verify the initial analysis.
Today, UNODC has the capability to identify various crops with an extremely high degree of accuracy, including wheat, melons, alfalfa, cotton, among others, and of course opium poppies. The signatures developed can even inform the team of the quality of the poppy fields and the expected yields.
Alex Nobajas Ganau, a geographic information officer at the centre, explained that the satellite imagery currently being used does not only provide pictures as such but includes “extra information which can be used to identify the quantity of chlorophyl and the type of crop that grows in each agricultural plot of land.”
The team’s work is extremely technical and sensitive. Protecting the data is vitally important to avoid catastrophic repercussions for farmers, particularly given the current political situation in Afghanistan.
Mr. Ganau said the raw data is never shared over the internet or connected to servers so it “cannot be hacked”. He said aggregated data is shared, “so rather than individual fields, we do it by district or by province.”
UN News / David Mottershead
The ‘A Team’
At the heart of the Information Centre are four resourceful Afghans with decades of on-the-ground experience. As part of the UNODC team in Afghanistan, they had conducted field visits and surveys until the agency decided to end these operations after the Taliban came to power. They are in regular contact with their colleagues who remain in the country and are providing key data, particularly on drug pricing.
As field surveyors and analysts, the Afghan experts have played a pivotal in the creation of the crop signatures that help monitor opium cultivation.
Ms. Flores told UN News: “The staff working at the UNODC Information Centre are extremely committed to their work. Our Afghan colleagues have been working on this for quite some time. So, we benefit from their experience; we benefit from their passion”.
Working in this field is a dangerous business, particularly for Afghan nationals.
Saddiqi (a pseudonym) is one of the staff members who deemed it necessary to protect his identity.
Noting the technical nature of his work and the protections granted to him as a UN staff member, he stressed that the “situation in Afghanistan is… different”.
He said that he is proud of the work he does for UNODC, which is extremely beneficial to his country, and he hopes that “slowly, everything will be better inshallah.”
Like Saddiqi, Ahmed Esmati has been working at UNODC for over 16 years and started as a surveyor. He was able to get his family out of Afghanistan.
While lamenting that several of his colleagues lost their lives in the line of duty while the surveys were being conducted, Mr. Esmati stressed that the work in verifying satellite data and providing the evidence on the ground, was instrumental in building the capacity to conduct UNODC’s remote unique sensing activities today.
“Before doing this work, we relied on what the farmers and village elders were saying about poppy cultivation. But with this remote sensing and poppy identification through the satellite imagery, there is no room for manipulating data or [providing] for fake data,” Mr. Esmati tells UN News.
UNODC
Opium poppy field in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan (file)
The neutrality of data
Afghanistan is the world’s largest supplier of opium, accounting for some 80 per cent of the global market. Drug abuse is rampant in the country. The Centre has therefore focused primarily on monitoring the production and cultivation of the extremely profitable plant-based substance used to produce heroin.
Following the political transition in Afghanistan in August 2021, UNODC ended its ground surveys and the evolution of the Information Centre began, said Central Asia Regional Representative Asita Mittal.
“As the UN, we believe in the neutrality of the data and our space, because it’s our responsibility that if you want evidence to inform policies and practices, you need to have quality data that is verifiable.”
UNODC
UNODC field surveyor verifying opium yield in Sukhrud, Afghanistan (file)
A shifting market?
After years of intensified opium production and cultivation, evidence shows that opium cultivation will decline sharply in 2023 due to a ban strictly enforced by the Taliban.
In the just published 2023 World Drug Report, UNODC cites record illicit drug supply and increasingly agile trafficking networks worldwide.
And while the benefits of a possible significant reduction in illicit opium cultivation in Afghanistan this year would be global, it would be at the expense of many farmers with no alternative means to generate income.
In that light, Ms. Mittal emphasized the importance of the Centre not only to the United Nations, the region and the international community, but also for the de facto authorities themselves.
“How will we prove that the [Taliban ban] on poppy cultivation is effective? Only through objective evidence will we be able to present the truth to the international community,” Ms. Mittal tells UN News.
Early days
The Regional Representative stressed that it is still too early to know whether the results of the poppy ban will hold, as that would require analysis by the Information Centre over the coming years.
But with the de facto authorities clamping down, there are indications that the market is changing. Synthetics and methamphetamines seizures are skyrocketing across the region, quadrupling in Tajikistan and increasing a whopping 11-fold in Kyrgyzstan.
Ms. Mittal says: “The situation in Afghanistan is such that because of the ban on poppy cultivation, it’s quite possible that the traffickers will try to use that market for increasing the production of methamphetamines.”
There are some concerns that the production of methamphetamines could be driven by the ephedra plant which grows in the wild in this region of the world.
“But that’s just one possibility,” adds the Head of the Information Centre, Ms. Flores. “It can also come from chemicals. It can come from cold medications or from bulk ephedrine. So, we are trying to understand how people or traffickers are producing methamphetamines. And of course, if we can understand that, then we will be able to inform the authorities so they can act”.
UN News / David Mottershead
Former opium poppy farmer cultivating tomatoes in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.
Alternative development solution
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, the UN has been operating in the country under a “Transitional Engagement Framework”. With its operations largely limited to basic humanitarian the Organization has been identifying innovative ways to carry out its development activities through implementing partners, without directly supporting the de facto authorities.
UNODC works to build the capacity of farmers and vulnerable communities in Afghanistan through its implementing partners.
In this poverty-stricken country, opium cultivation remains very attractive and lucrative, as farmers can earn about 30 cents for 7 kg of tomatoes while the current price of 1 kg of opium is about $360.
The Information Centre is playing an important role in determining the need for alternative development programmes.
Crop change
Ms. Flores highlighted the importance of providing farmers with a proper income and replacing “an illicit crop with a licit crop.”
“If we know the geographic location, we can target resources and efforts. We are also able to understand the characteristics of the territory, the geography, and propose viable alternatives to poppy cultivation,” she explains to UN News.
Ms. Mittal adds that the most important investment the international community could make is in “reducing the vulnerabilities at both ends of the spectrum.” She noted that traffickers are “always looking for the weakest spots and the most vulnerable people”, and as such, more needs to be done to prevent cultivation and use.
Without this type of investment, illicit economies will continue to thrive.
“If you stop one illicit activity, it may be replaced by another because people have to make sure there is food on the table,” she says.
UN News / David Mottershead
Homes line a hill on the edge of Kabul city.
Profit-driven criminals
For decades, opium has travelled from Afghanistan through Central Asia and the northern route to other markets, including Europe, even reaching Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Monitoring the drug trade in this region remains extremely important, as traffickers find new ways to smuggle their products and the rise of synthetic drugs presents a problem with potential global implications.
Ms. Mittal underscored that profits are what drive illicit activities, and the biggest profits are made outside of the producing countries like Afghanistan.
For example, even after the ban, a kilo of heroin can exceed $48,000 on the streets of London.
“So, while we may blame and put the onus on Afghanistan, which doesn’t even produce the precursor chemicals, we need to have a shared responsibility on dealing with this issue,” she says.
Confronting evolving threats
Ms. Flores said her team aims to monitor and analyse all the transnational threats in the region, including human trafficking – which is a growing risk with the migratory flow of people from Afghanistan, as well as the smuggling of firearms, illicit mining, wildlife trafficking, and falsified medicines as a growing trend in the region.
According to the head of the Information Centre, “Transnational threats evolve, and organized crime adapts. As authorities tackle issues, the illicit markets can change.”
The prospects of a diplomatic solution between the international community and the de facto authorities in Afghanistan continue to be grim, as human rights issues remain a major sticking point.
In the absence of true sustainable development in Afghanistan, illicit activities will likely persist as a plague in the country and in turn infect the world, making the work of the Information Centre instrumental in addressing these challenges.
A demonstration in the city of Córdoba, capital of the province of the same name in central Argentina, in favor of legal, safe and free abortion and women’s rights. The color green has identified the movement in favor of the legalization of abortion, which was passed by Congress in late 2020. CREDIT: Catholics for Choice
by Daniel Gutman (buenos aires)
Inter Press Service
BUENOS AIRES, Jun 23 (IPS) – Viviana Mazur is a doctor at the Santojanni Hospital in Mataderos, a working-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires. She has witnessed the advances in women’s rights in Argentina, where until 2020 abortion was only allowed on two grounds, while it is now available on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy.
“Today what we see at the hospital is that most women come in for a consultation very early; in many cases they do so as soon as their period is late. This makes it possible to resolve almost all abortions with medication, in the woman’s own home, with medical advice and monitoring,” she said.
Mazur, who is also coordinator of Sexual Health in the Buenos Aires city government, said there are many advantages of medication abortion over the traditional surgical procedures.
“It’s less traumatic and less risky for the woman and it’s less costly for the public health system,” she told IPS.
In Argentina, as a result of years of struggle by the women’s rights movement, since January 2021 abortion has been decriminalized. In the last stage of the fight, mass demonstrations by women – and also men – wearing green headscarves, which has become a pro-choice symbol in Latin America, filled the streets.
Until the law came into force, access was severely restricted: a Supreme Court ruling in effect since 2012 authorized what was called Legal Termination of Pregnancy, only in the case of rape or if the pregnancy endangered the woman’s life or health.
Argentina’s Minister of Health Carla Vizzotti (C) holds the green headscarf that is the symbol for the feminist movement that fought for the successful legalization of abortion in Argentina. CREDIT: Ministry of Health
More abortions recorded in 2022
In 2022, the first full year in which the law allowing abortion on demand was in force, 96,664 abortions were performed in the public health system of this South American country of 46 million inhabitants, according to official data. This marked a significant increase over 2021, when the total was 73,847, partly due to the rise in abortions in the public health system.
“More than 85 percent of abortions in 2022 were performed with medication,” Valeria Isla, the national director of Sexual and Reproductive Health, told IPS.
.
“The good news is that today these are safe practices taking place within the health system. In any case, since until recently most abortions were clandestine, we believe it is too early to draw conclusions with respect to the number. The figures have yet to stabilize,” she added.
Isla explained that her office provides training to health personnel from all over the country on how to perform abortions and that medications are distributed, as well as equipment for manual vacuum aspiration, which is a less risky medical procedure in a doctor’s office than dilation and curettage, which is performed in an operating room.
In this sense, since 2022 the incorporation of mifepristone into the Argentine health system, in addition to misoprostol, which has been used for years to perform medical abortions, has been a great step forward.
The combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, called “combipack”, makes abortions more efficient and less painful for women, and in fact the combination of these two drugs for pregnancy termination is one of the techniques recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 2005.
Last year, the WHO ratified both as essential drugs for providing quality health services and backed their efficacy and safety for abortion.
Isla explained that since last year the national government has been distributing mifepristone in public hospitals thanks to a donation from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
This has allowed the “combipack” to be used in recent months in the private health system as well, where women now also have easier access to abortion.
“The incorporation of mifepristone has been very important on a day-to-day basis to make abortion easier for women, because it means less misoprostol is used, side effects are reduced and the whole process can be carried out at home, with prior and subsequent checkups,” Florencia Grazzini, a social worker at a primary care clinic in the municipality of Lanús, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, told IPS.
Grazzini began providing support to women who needed access to abortion long before the legalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy. She worked for years at the Kimelú counseling center, formed by feminist activists and serving the southern area of Greater Buenos Aires.
She said that while access to abortion has now been greatly facilitated, for some women termination of pregnancy is still a stigma.
“Despite the fact that with the law there is no need to gjve a reason for abortions up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, the justification for the decision continues to appear in the record of the consultations,” Grazzini pointed out.
She added that, “We are working so that people can share how they feel about their situation, but we don’t want them to feel that they need to explain in order to access an abortion.”
She said the women are told that they do not need to explain why they wish to have an abortion, although psychological assistance is provided to those who request it.
Abortion, however, sometimes encounters resistance from health professionals themselves. This was reflected in May, when the Ministry of Health updated the Protocol of Care and urged the “elimination of all requirements that are not clinically necessary for the safe practice of abortion.”
Specifically, it called for the elimination of waiting or reflection periods and the requirement of parental or partner consent.
A rally at the Ministry of Health in Buenos Aires, where feminist activists showed their green scarves and demonstrated in favor of women’s rights. CREDIT: Ministry of Health
The need for support
More data that shows that the legalization of abortion has not eliminated all the actual barriers is provided by Socorristas en Red (roughly, “Helpers Online Network”), a women’s organization that provides nationwide support for women who need an abortion.
In 2022, the network received 13,292 calls from women who wanted to terminate their pregnancies.
Only 10 percent of them had abortions in the public health system and the rest had abortions that they arranged elsewhere. The organization provided them with psychological assistance, information, instructions, WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and virtual and face-to-face company by “socorristas” or helpers. With all this they found greater comfort than in the health system.
This picture is completed by the visible inequality in access to abortion in different areas of the country.
Although the number of public hospitals and health centers that perform abortions reached 1793 in 2022 – against less than 1000 in 2021 – in some provinces the supply is very limited. For example, in the northern provinces of Santiago del Estero and Chaco there are only eight and nine health institutions, respectively, that perform abortions.
“In some places there is resistance from officials and a lack of knowledge among fellow workers about outpatient treatment with medications,” Ana Morillo, a social worker in the province of Córdoba, in the center of the country, told IPS.
Morillo, who is an activist and member of the Network of Professionals for Choice and the organization Catholics for Choice, said the advocacy work of the women’s rights movement has made Cordoba one of the provinces with the greatest access to abortion, since there are 180 hospitals and health centers that perform the procedure.
“The greatest inequalities are between cities and rural areas, where it is much more difficult to access an abortion. These are the disparities in the country on which we still have to work the hardest,” she said.
Watcharapol Mahaprom, who goes by the name Paan, accesses services at a clinic in Bangkok run by the UNODC-supported non-governmental organization, Ozone.
The organization promotes harm-reduction services which focus on their clients’ needs with the aim of preventing the health and social impacts of drug use.
“I first tried drugs at university when I was 21 years old, when I was invited to someone’s dorm to take ice, which is the slang for crystal meth. You can smoke this drug or inject it. That first experience left me feeling strange; I couldn’t eat or sleep, and I wasn’t sure what was happening to my body. I even went to hospital to get checked out, but could not tell the doctor that I had taken ice as it is illegal.
I only use ice when I have sex, and when I used it for a second time, it was a better experience. The drug could really amplify my emotions and prolong this enjoyable activity. I felt happy and wanted that feeling more and more.
I began using it a lot in 2018, perhaps twice a week. At that time, I felt a lot of despair, so I thought I needed it more, but the drug made me feel even sadder once the effects had worn off. I did tell my mother, who was supportive, and friends said I could call them anytime I felt sad.
Nowadays, I only use crystal meth once every three months, and normally it is paid for and prepared by the person with whom I’m having sex. It’s too expensive for me to buy myself.
Health issues
Two or three years ago, I discovered that I had hepatitis C which you can contract by sharing needles or the paraphernalia needed to prepare crystal meth. That is when I was first referred to Ozone for support and treatment.
I felt there is a lot of judgment in the mainstream hospital system when it comes to people who are using drugs. I was asked all the time why I was not protecting myself, and I felt that I was being blamed for this by health workers.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson
Hepatitis C tests are one of the services available at Ozone.
At Ozone, I feel more like an individual person. I feel like they care for me on a more personal level here and do not judge me. So, I can be free and open about my drug use and general behaviour.
Today, I am having a blood test to check for hepatitis C; I also regularly have a test for HIV, but I’m not so worried about contracting the virus as I am on PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) which reduces your chance of getting HIV from sex or injecting drugs.
I don’t like these blood tests because of the needles, even though I am happy to inject myself with ice, which of course uses a needle. I think this is because I’m addicted to the sensation that I get from the drug, so I don’t mind the needle.
Hopes for the future
I’m now 29 years old and I want to be last person in my family to die; I don’t want to die before my grandparents or my mother. Otherwise, I will continue to work, day by day, to satisfy my needs. I’m not planning to give up crystal meth as I believe I can control my usage every three or four months.
I like the feeling, and I do think about taking it a lot as sometimes my life can be boring. My advice to other people who are in a similar situation to me is to love yourself first and do what makes you feel good.
Also, do not feel scared to access services of the type you can get at Ozone.”
This year’s observance organized by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in collaboration with the Secretariat, took place under the theme, Yoga for Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (“the world is one family”).
In his video message for the event, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres reminded everyone that in a dangerous and divided world, the benefits of this ancient practice are particularly precious.
UN News/ Sachin Gaur
Yoga event at the United Nations headquarters in New York on International Yoga Day.
Yoga unites
Noting the various benefits, “yoga unites”, he added.
“It unites body and mind, humanity and nature, and millions of people across the globe for whom it is a source of strength, harmony, and peace.”
Careful arrangements were made to mark the day in a scenic setting close to New York City’s East River on the UN campus, including a display of the flags of each UN Member State.
The North Lawn area was converted into a temporary yoga studio to host the outdoor event, which was led by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In his remarks, PM Modi stressed that Yoga is free from copyright, patents or royalties. It is unifying and is for all ethnicities, faith, cultures.
UN Photo/Mark Garten
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, joins the 9th International Day of Yoga celebrated at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
‘A way of life’: Prime Minister Modi
“When we do yoga, we feel physically fit, mentally calm and emotionally content. But it is not just about doing exercise on a mat. Yoga is a way of life,” PM Modi said.
The UN General Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution declaring June 21 the International Day of Yoga, back in December 2014. Since then, millions of people have participated in the celebration every year across the world.
‘An ethical guide’
Yoga is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India, with the Sanskrit word yoga meaning ‘to unite’ – symbolizing the union of body and consciousness.
The President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Korosi pointed out how yoga also promotes sustainable lifestyles and leads to overall societal well-being.
He said that thanks to his daughter, “I understand better yoga’s ethical guide. The guide which includes the principles of non-stealing, non-greed and nonviolence. In other words, yoga’s ethical guide is a guide to sustainability.”
“Not overusing resources that belong to all of us. Not prioritizing short-term gains over planetary boundaries. And working for transformation.”
Following the remarks, a yoga instructor led the opening chants and demonstrated basic yoga asanas (poses) as yoga lovers wearing customized white t-shirts joined in.
‘A sense of openness’: Richard Gere
Delegates from the UN Member States, officials, and staff of the Secretariat as well as eminent New Yorkers from all walks of life, were present at the event.
Hollywood actor Richard Gere told UN News, “usually we come to the UN, it´s very political, very goal-oriented to getting something done. But this is a place where you can feel that everyone has an incredible sense of openness, of sharing, there´s a great joy here.”
“I would hope this energy infuses the main building as well and especially the Security Council and its sense of responsibility…a very large human family, so we can work together.”
UN News / Sachin Gaur
Award-winning music composer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Ricky Kej also attended the Yoga Day event at UNHQ in New York.
‘Healing powers’
Also attending the event was Grammy award winning music composer and UNHCR’s Goodwill Ambassador Ricky Kej. Speaking to UN News, Mr. Kej underscored the deep connection between Yoga and music.
“Yoga is far more enjoyable when there is music and I create a lot of music for yoga… I believe that both have got very strong healing powers and very strong palliative powers.”
“Everybody talks about preventative health and yoga is exactly that. If you lead a lifestyle of yoga, then basically you’ve got less chance of falling ill and can lead an overall life for wellness.”
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