UNITED NATIONS

A taskforce of foreign policy makers recently suggested that an analysis unit should be set up at the United Nations (UN) to facilitate Security Council's decision-making. Lord Carrington, the UK foreign secretary and chairperson of the task force, said that he was "worried about the gap between the readiness of UN member states to pass resolutions under Chapter VIII of the Charter (dealing with threats to peace) and the apparent lack of machinery to implement them." The task force, comprising politicians from nine nations was to bridge this gap by proposing improvements in both decision-making and their enforcement.

Thanks to mosquitoes, malaria -- in its mild and virulent forms -- returns every year to West Bengal, putting the state authorities on the defensive. This year, however, will be different. The state government, Calcutta municipal corporation and the UN children's fund (UNICEF) plan to launch an anti-malaria public education programme later in February. They will also appeal to medical personnel to adhere to the uniform regime for malaria treatment as stipulated by the World Health Organisation and the National Malaria Eradication Programme.