UN News Today 01 September 2026 |

Nepal death toll nears 1,000 as emergency continues

The human toll from catastrophic flooding in Nepal is continuing to rise, with more than 1,000 people now confirmed dead – according to local authorities – and more than 4,200 reportedly still missing. 

Nearly a week after a glacier collapse triggered flash floods along the border with China, rescue crews are still struggling to reach some of the worst-hit communities, with roads and bridges destroyed and waterways blocked.

Matt Baden, an operations manager for the Nepal crisis response with the International Red Cross described the threat of further flooding and landslides as “real and immediate.”

For survivors returning home, many are finding their houses damaged or destroyed, he told reporters at the UN in Geneva on Tuesday.

“We met a group digging through the mud for their mother, 82 years old, home alone when the water came, she had nowhere to go. A few streets away, we met a man named Sahil Khan digging out his own house. He was smiling. All 22 members of his family survived. Hope remains, he told us. Now he’s digging out his house because, in his words, ‘it’s all I can do.’”

Some 43,000 women and girls urgently need humanitarian assistance, with many running out of food and losing access to safe water. 

Gender equality agency UN Women also warns of increased risks of gender-based violence, exploitation and trafficking.

Healthcare is becoming harder to reach, with six facilities damaged or destroyed and two inaccessible. 

The UN’s World Health Organization warns that stagnant water, overcrowding and displacement could fuel outbreaks of diseases including dengue and the bacterial disease scrub typhus.

Thousands of children are also facing psychological impacts – underscoring that the emergency is far from over.

UN forced to cut food assistance in West Bank as situation worsens

In the occupied West Bank, funding shortfalls are forcing the UN’s World Food Programme, or WFP, to cut food assistance in half just as food insecurity worsens.

Nearly 200,000 people will lose access to aid. Almost one million people – more than a quarter of the population – are now food insecure, up from 11 percent two years ago.

In Jenin, WFP recently visited 84-year-old Aisha, a mother of five whose home was demolished this year. Now living in a university dormitory, she relies on WFP cash assistance to buy staples like potatoes, rice and sugar – support she and thousands of other displaced families may soon lose.

In Gaza, WHO is warning of a looming water and disease crisis. Microbiological contamination in tested water samples has nearly tripled since January, and cases of acute watery diarrhea have almost doubled since March, topping 58,000 in August.

With winter approaching, WHO says flooding could spread sewage through overcrowded areas.

Here’s Dr. Reinhilde Van De Weerdt, WHO’s representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, speaking to reporters in Geneva:

“To be ahead of this curve, we need to be able to rapidly confirm the causes of potential outbreaks. Our laboratory and diagnostic capabilities to rapidly identify viruses and bacteria that can cause these diseases are not available as we speak. So unfortunately, we know what is coming, but we still have time to prevent a public health disaster within this disaster.”

UN campaign vaccinates thousands amid Yemen measles outbreak

Health authorities in Yemen’s Ma’rib Governorate have declared an emergency following a rise in suspected measles cases, as gaps in routine vaccination leave children increasingly vulnerable to the preventable disease.

UN migration agency, IOM, working with local health authorities and partners, has responded with an emergency vaccination campaign across four districts, including displacement sites and other underserved communities.

The campaign screened more than 11,000 children and administered nearly 13,800 vaccine doses, including for measles, which targeted more than 10,600 children aged six months up to five. 

The highly contagious respiratory infection can be fatal in rare cases. 

Yemen has faced recurrent measles outbreaks. According to provisional data from WHO, more than 11,300 cases were reported nationwide between October 2025 and March 2026 – the second-highest number reported globally during that period.

For children living in displacement sites, reaching basic healthcare and vaccinations can be especially difficult, increasing the risk of diseases that are otherwise preventable.

Isaiah Steinberg, UN News