English-language media has been saturated by coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the aid community, the shattered ceasefires and billion dollar price tags are grabbing headlines, including our own. (You can find our coronavirus coverage here.)
But what about the “other” news? The world’s longer-running crises have not been standing still. Infectious diseases don't begin and end with COVID-19: we look at non-coronavirus global health issues, and the risks of ignoring them. Climate change-linked droughts and floods continue to take their toll in Latin America and East and Southern Africa. Migration routes remain risky for Rohingya refugees – hear first hand of the experience. And conflict from Ukraine to Democratic Republic of Congo offers no hope of peace.
If you need to catch up on these and other stories that risk being overlooked in the midst of coronavirus concerns, here’s a selection to get you started.
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Congo aid scam triggers sector-wide alarm
One NGO lost $639,000 in a few months. Investigators and aid officials believe similar fraud schemes went undetected for over a decade.
Health woes, outrage, and toxins near Ethiopia gold mine
Anger in the restive region of Oromia is rising as a gold mine shut over concerns of environmental poisoning looks set to re-open.
How a new EU migration and asylum policy might look
A new pact is set to be unveiled against the backdrop of COVID-19, but migration analysts doubt real reforms are in the offing.
How coronavirus is disrupting other health responses
Even as health workers scramble to contain raging COVID-19 epidemics across the globe, a host of services for other infectious diseases such as cholera, Ebola, measles, and polio are simultaneously being disrupted.
Conflict spikes in Congo's Ituri
When hundreds of militiamen arrived in January at a government-run demobilisation camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s northeastern province of Ituri, there was a flicker of hope that more than two years of conflict might be abating.
First Person | Why Rohingya refugees risk dangerous human trafficking routes at sea
“I know why desperate people risk their lives on dangerous trafficking routes: I was one of them.”
Is global warming driving the spread of dengue across Latin America?
Originally a tropical disease, dengue has begun to take hold in more temperate regions. Scientists say climate change may be to blame.
Syrian war crimes case set for trial in Germany
With the path to the International Criminal Court blocked, prosecutors try charging Syrian regime figures another way.
Diary of a drought | Life in Kenya, Somalia, and Zimbabwe as drought takes hold in eastern and southern Africa
Here’s what life is like in Kenya, Somalia, and Zimbabwe as drought takes hold in eastern and southern Africa.
In Ukraine, local volunteers keep the water running to frontline communities
Meet the unlikely humanitarians providing a vital supply to those on Ukraine’s front line as the war on the EU's doorstep enters a seventh year.
Violence and obstruction: Cameroon’s deepening aid crisis
Growing violence and government crackdowns on access have left hundreds of thousands of people beyond the reach of aid workers.
How to help migrants make the best decisions at the worst times
Information is power. Let’s empower refugees, migrants, and others on the move.
In Burkina Faso, arming civilians to fight jihadists. What could go wrong?
A new law will provide volunteers with weapons to fight extremists. Rights groups worry it will make matters worse.
Nowhere to go: Mosul residents in limbo as camps close
The Iraqi government says it wants to end displacement. But many people have little to go home to.
