The distorted world trade regime is an obstacle to development, the leader of the Seychelles told the General Assembly, calling for increased justice and fairness to recognize the specific needs of small island nations. “We should abandon ‘solutions’ which continue to enrich the rich and impoverish the poor and the vulnerable,” President James Alix Michel told the body’s annual high-level event.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) continue to help authorities in Guinea-Bissau combat an outbreak of cholera that has claimed at least 133 lives since May and forced thousands of others to be hospitalized. WHO has sent an epidemiologist and UNICEF has deployed water and sanitation experts to assist in the response to the cholera epidemic, which can be a frequent occurrence in the poor West African nation.

The soaring cost of fuel and basic foods over the past year has left many countries in sub-Saharan Africa unable to adequately fund critical activities, such as health care and the provision of safe drinking water, their leaders told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate.