Over eight million people in Pakistan flood-affected districts are in urgent need of health assistance and the risk of disease outbreaks is particularly high.

Arinaitwe Mary Immaculate, Psychosocial Support Officer with WHO Uganda Arinaitwe is an experienced psychologist who has been practicing in mental health and psychosocial support for over four years. Following years of building her skills, she became a national UN Volunteer, aspiring to grow professionally and network with experts from various disciplines.

Launched on International Women's Day 2023, AWHC phase two will span over the course of two years and recruit young women professionals between 22 and 35 years as UN Volunteer health champions across WHO Country Offices in Africa. 

Following the successful implementation of the first phase, the AWHC initiative continues its mission of placing young African women professionals aged between 22 and 35 years as UN Volunteer health champions across WHO Country Offices in Africa. Through the initiative, WHO-AFRO and UNV commit to improving health for people on the continent, expanding opportunities for African public health professionals, and nurturing the next generation of women health leaders in Africa, while contributing to gender parity for the WHO workforce.

Joelma Pereira is an international UN Volunteer from Guinea Bissau. She is a Communications Officer with UNDP stationed with WHO in Mozambique. She takes pride in being a health champion, and documents key initiatives related to environmental health, climate change, and the misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations. Joelma also oversees partnerships between WHO and different stakeholders in the health and humanitarian sector at WHO Regional Office for Africa. 

The event was attended by government officials and UN agency representatives, with 50 people participating in person and 79 online.  In his welcome address, Dr Ali Ahmed Yahaya spoke, representing the WHO Africa Regional Director. He commended the efforts and commitment of volunteers to achieve WHO's mandate and their involvement with communities to improve public health systems in Africa.

A large part of being a volunteer is that you have ownership of your solutions – that's the story of Hajara Maimuna Idi, a community volunteer in Borno State, northeast Nigeria.

With a professional background in Marketing and Media, and a thesis on Health Communications, Minh Pham, a national UN Volunteer Junior Communications Officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Viet Nam. Just as the fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the population was in need of a lot of information about many issues. Minh was sent to the most impoverished areas of the country to document the vaccination efforts of frontline medical workers.  The people, despite living in harsh conditions, were very approachable. 

From 19-22 September, Ms Kyoko Yokosuka, UNV Deputy Executive Coordinator, visited South Sudan to meet with partners and UN Volunteers serving in the country.

Indonesia is a vast country with more than 17,000 islands. This geography makes for considerable logistical challenges for the COVID-19 recovery.