Amid growing political and security challenges, sexual violence remains a tool of terrorism, torture, and war. Hate speech and sexual assault both online and offline, undermine women's and girls' participation in society and are a threat to democracy.          

"Conflict-related sexual violence" encompasses rape, sexual slavery, trafficking, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced marriage, and any other type of sexual violence that is directly or indirectly related to a conflict.        

Estimates state that for every conflict-related rape that is reported but 10–20 go unreported due to survivors' fear and cultural stigma.      

In 2015, the UN General Assembly declared June 19 "The International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict to honour victims and survivors", raise awareness and pay respects to those who have sacrificed their lives to fight against sexual harassment.          

In 2016, the Security Council recognized sexual assault as a terrorist strategy and declared that the victims of trafficking or sexual assault by terrorist organizations should be entitled to official redressal as victims of terrorism.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has included a fourth test for human papillomavirus (HPV) in its list of prequalified tests. This addition highlights the importance of HPV testing as a crucial component of cervical cancer screening.

The “Roche Molecular Systems Inc.'s cobas HPV assay's” inclusion expands the range of high-performance tests available to countries, supporting efforts to improve screening coverage and quality.  

WHO's strategic targets to eliminate cervical cancer include vaccination,  screening, and treatment of pre-cancer & invasive cancer.  

HPV tests predict the risk better than a pap smear and visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA). Provide opportunities for self-sampling, reducing testing barriers. 

Incorporating HPV testing into existing laboratory systems aids public health programs in achieving screening targets.

According to the Health Ministry, there is no need to collect data frequently because disability data will not change quickly over 2-3 years.

The data on disabilities gathered by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) and the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) differ significantly from one another.

In contrast to NFHS-5, where the disability rates were only 1% for rural areas and 0.9% for urban areas, NSSO estimates for 2018 place the disability rates for rural areas at 2.3% and urban areas at 2%.

The Ministry asserts that the NFHS was unable to accurately reflect the scope of disability across the country. Hence, the technical advisory committee's recommendations led to the removal of questions regarding disabilities.

The ECOSOC Special Session refers to a special meeting convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to address specific global challenges or emerging issues related to sustainable development.        

Half of the population of the country of HAITI needs humanitarian assistance, including nearly 3 million children.       

Nearly a quarter of Haiti’s children are chronically malnourished, which can have devastating consequences for their physical and cognitive development.          

UNICEF has been supporting children in Haiti for decades. In the past year alone, they screened over 243,000 children under five for Wasting, facilitated healthcare for nearly 70,000 women and children, provided safe water to over 417,000 people, and supplied learning materials to 30,000 children. 

The Haitian people need an immediate scale-up in both regional and international support. 

The upcoming summit hosted by the EU and the Community of Latin American & Caribbean States is one of several upcoming opportunities for the international community to rally around Haiti with investments and action.

A National one-day workshop was conducted to address the impact of sedimentation on reservoirs and river basins.  

The workshop emphasized the importance of developing states' action plans to control silt deposition.  

The National Framework for Sediment Management (NFSM) addresses the concern of sediment collection at the river basins and reservoirs and its environmental impact. 

The states shared their individual experiences, focusing on the revenue-based models by Rajasthan and Kerala for desilting the reservoirs.

A novel study was conducted in Zambia, the WHO African region, to test the behavior of Anopheles gambiae against various human scents in natural settings.  

The novelty of this study included-        

Kairomones are an interspecific mixture of semiochemicals, produced by one species which induces responses advantageous to an individual of a different species perceiving the signal.

The study concluded that the mosquitoes exhibit olfactory preferences, especially towards carboxylic acids.  

This data can be used in the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases.