The world we share
News and context on the challenges shaping lives around the world, and the efforts helping communities move forward.
Nine years after Myanmar’s 2017 crackdown, about 1.2 million Rohingya remain in Bangladesh, with over 30,000 children born each year, while protection gaps and funding shortfalls heighten exploitation risks and underscore calls for a durable, rights‑based return.
Read the storyHumanitarian aid
With global military spending edging toward $3 trillion and development aid down 23 % to about $175 billion, the United Nations is under pressure to address funding imbalances, representation deficits and emerging technology risks.
Displacement
Pacific island states facing up to two metres of sea‑level rise are lobbying for fixed baselines, protecting maritime rights and pioneering a digital nation model to keep their people and culture intact.
Food & water
A WHO‑UNICEF report shows that in 2025 over 429 million school‑age children lacked drinking water at school, 460 million lacked basic sanitation and more than 545 million missed essential hand‑washing services, leaving the world far from the 2030 SDG target.
Humanitarian aid
The UN warns that extreme wealth concentration and unequal growth are deepening poverty, fueling unrest and limiting access to health, resources and climate resilience worldwide.
Humanitarian aid
A bomb‑damaged building in Gaza City collapsed on 16 September, killing at least 20 and trapping dozens of residents, including 50 children. Regional aid and UNDP machinery are on the ground, but officials warn that hundreds of unsafe shelters across the Strip leave families vulnerable as the rainy season approaches.
Humanitarian aid
Benin’s steady rise in domestic revenue and its pioneering SDG bond have doubled water access and created 25,000 jobs, while worldwide SDG gains are offset by a $4 trillion financing gap and rising climate risks.
Health
The glacier‑triggered floods of 26 August 2026 left more than 84 000 people affected and created an urgent demand for mental‑health and psychosocial aid for about 17 000 children in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading.
Health
An UN‑backed analysis projects over 250,000 Haitian children will face acute malnutrition between June 2026 and May 2027, while more than 1.4 million people are internally displaced, prompting urgent calls for expanded screening and nutrition support.
Health
Six years after COVID‑19 killed over seven million people, the UN pushes a binding treaty, a worldwide supply chain and a financing mechanism to close equity gaps and boost preparedness.
Humanitarian aid
A UN human‑rights office report documents more than 1,000 sexual‑violence incidents in Ukraine through July 2026, with 89 % linked to Russian authorities and men comprising the majority of victims. The findings note repeated assaults in detention, the use of electric shocks via a Soviet‑era field telephone, and victims ranging from a four‑year‑old girl to an 82‑year‑old woman.
Health
In Bunia, DRC, more than half of Ebola patients are women and girls, who also face loss of income, reduced health services and exclusion from response funding.
