Two weeks ago, Peruvians - with the exception of some heroes - were called to stay at home to prevent COVID-19 from spreading and reaching the most vulnerable populations. However, confinement does not imply standing idly by. This is well understood by many young people, who are willing to offer their unconditional help during these times which have already made their mark on the history books.

Giving clarity and certainty to UN Volunteers and their host agencies, is vital. UNV has put measures and guidelines in place to ensure duty of care for its currently serving 6,000 UN Volunteers who are deployed with over 50 UN entity partners worldwide.

On March 20th in Kenya, the the Government of Kenya, United Nations and International Community convened in Nairobi to join forces in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya.

Stronger partnership UN Volunteers have operated through various assignments in the health sector with WHO, since the beginning of the partnership in 1973. The engagement of UN Volunteers in WHO health programmes has increased steadily since then, as a result of UN Volunteers’ professional input to the preparation and implementation of emergency response plans to disease outbreaks, such as Ebola in West Africa, which remains a threat.

Fanara Bunyadzada, national UN Youth Volunteer, joined the WHO Communications team in Azerbaijan at the beginning of this year, motivated by her belief that "volunteering is the best way to make a positive impact in the society," and by her desire to help people to be more aware about health-related issues.

As part of the Expanded Programme on Immunization a nationwide measles follow-up vaccination campaign was conducted from 15-27 Oct 2018 by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (MoNHSRC) and the Government of Pakistan. WHO provided the technical assistance to respective provincial health departments and district health management teams. The objective of the campaign was to vaccinate children from six-months to five years with one dose of measles vaccine, irrespective of their previous vaccination status and illness.

Some 103 UN Volunteers served with UNAIDS in 38 countries over the past 10 years.  Supporting the mandate of UNAIDS, they have been working towards stopping new HIV infections, ensuring that everyone living with HIV has access to treatment, protecting and promoting human rights and producing data for decision-making.