Yearbook of the United Nations, 2006. Part 3, Economic and social questions. Chapter 13, Health, food and nutrition

Abstract

In 2006, the United Nations continued to promote human health and food security, coordinate food aid and support research in nutrition. About 40 million people were living with HIV/ aids at the end of the year and an estimated 4.3 million became infected with the virus; approximately 2.9 million people lost their lives due to aids-related illnesses. The Human Development Report 2006 noted that HIV/aids had driven human development into reverse across a large group of countries and was shaping the demographic structure of many African nations. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/aids (UNAIDS), which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006, continued to coordinate UN activities for aids prevention and control, developing an action plan for the UN system that specified 18 “key UNAIDS-deliverable” to effectively help strengthen HIV prevention. The General Assembly adopted a Political Declaration on HIV/aids, committing world leaders to address the epidemic through much stronger national and international action, and designated a Voluntary HIV Counselling and Testing Day in 2007. The World Health Organization (WHO) established the Global Malaria Programme in order to respond cohesively and strongly to the needs of malaria-endemic countries through a new strategic direction. It also launched guidelines for the treatment of malaria. In its 2006 update of activities and progress made in meeting the 2010 goals of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, WHO reported substantial progress in addressing the disease over the preceding few years. However, it concluded that effective coverage of malaria control interventions was inadequate due largely to funding shortages, lack of technical expertise and weak health systems. WHO also launched a new global strategy to stop tuberculosis, while the Assembly designated 14 November as an annual World Diabetes Day, beginning in 2007, and proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation. The United Nations Road Safety Collaboration, in preparation for the First United Nations Global Road Safety Week, scheduled for 2007, created formal working groups on fleet safety and infrastructure, and decided to work towards a new Assembly resolution on road safety in 2007. The World Health Assembly agreed to the immediate voluntary implementation of influenza-related provisions of the revised 2005 International Health Regulations, which laid out the role of countries and WHO in identifying and responding to public health emergencies. WHO also released its strategic plan for addressing the disease. As few major emergencies occurred in 2006, the World Food Programme (WFP) was able to focus on protracted relief and recovery operations. It responded to the May earthquake in Indonesia; natural disasters in Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador and Nicaragua; floods in Nepal; conflicts in Lebanon and Kenya; and the continuing crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan, which claimed thousands of lives and destroyed many homes and livelihoods. WFP also distributed 4 million metric tons of food to 87.8 million people in 78 countries. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAQ) continued to implement the Plan of Action adopted at the 1996 World Food Summit for meeting, by 2015, the commitments to halve the number of undernourished people worldwide. In support of an FAQ resolution highlighting the importance of natural fibres as a source of income for small farmers in low-income and developing countries, the Assembly declared 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibres.