UN News Today 26 May 2025 |

Alcohol consumption linked to higher risk of pancreatic cancer

In health news, a new study published Monday revealed that alcoholic drinks can moderately increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.

The pancreas is an essential organ for men and women which produces enzymes to help break down food and hormones that control blood sugar levels.

Led by the UN World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), researchers pooled data from nearly 2.5 million people across Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

Their results revealed a “modest but significant” association between alcoholic drinks and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, independent of the drinker’s sex and whether they smoked.

Beer and spirits were found to be especially significant risk-increasing.

“Alcohol consumption is a known carcinogen, but until now, the evidence linking it specifically to pancreatic cancer has been considered inconclusive,” said Pietro Ferrari, senior author of the study at the WHO’s cancer research agency and Head of its Nutrition and Metabolism Branch.  

Gaza: Trickle of aid allowed into war-torn enclave ‘will not halt famine’

After another deadly weekend of Israeli attacks in Gaza, aid teams stressed once again on Monday that the “trickle” of supplies being allowed into the war-torn enclave will not halt famine.

The development comes after the Israeli military coordination unit COGAT said that nearly 400 supply trucks had entered Gaza since last Monday – the first aid in well over two months of blockade.

Humanitarians have repeatedly warned that at least 500 to 600 trucks need to get across into Gaza every day to provide people with their daily needs – as they did before war erupted on 7 October.

Speaking to UN News, here’s James Elder from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF:

“Remembering that we are on the back of 11 weeks of nothing entering the Gaza Strip, no food, no medicines for 11 weeks, nothing apart from bombs. And so today, a week after life-saving aid was finally allowed into Gaza again, the scale of that aid is painfully inadequate. It looks like a token effort that appears more like cynical optics than any real attempt to tackle the soaring hunger crisis among children and civilians in Gaza.”  

Across Gaza, less than five per cent of the Strip’s cropland remains available for cultivation.

That’s according to UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Satellite Centre.  

Using high-definition imagery, the agencies’ findings emphasize just how much food production capacity has shrunk in Gaza because of the war, increasing the risk of famine.

In Lebanon, top marks for an inclusive schooling project  

To Lebanon, where an education programme is getting top marks with teachers and children, especially those with disabilities.

According to UNICEF, there are approximately 300,000 children with disabilities in Lebanon today.  

To help them, the UN agency and the authorities set up a pilot scheme giving these youngsters equal access to education in 30 schools in 2018.

Today there are over 117 inclusive schools across Lebanon, said Amal El Jabali, an Education Officer with UNICEF.  

Here she is now, speaking to UN News:

“These children need to have access to inclusive schools and inclusive environments. It’s not about society including them, it’s about society adopting their ways to make sure that they are they part of the community that they have an equal right in.”

In Al Fadila Inclusive Public School, 10-year-old Lama who has dwarfism studies alongside her classmates, supported by dedicated teachers, paraprofessionals, and special educators.  

She dreams of becoming a chef and believes “that anything is possible”, Ms. El Jabali said.  

The UNICEF officer insisted that with the right support, children like Lama can be empowered to thrive and follow their dreams with confidence.