World Map : October (II) 2018

Recently, 28 children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were paralyzed by the circulating vaccine-derived polio virus Type 2 (cVDPV). The World Health Organisation (WHO) has assessed the overall public health risk in DRC at the “to be very high and the risk of international spread also to be very high”.

Maria Fernanda Espinosa from Ecuador was elected president of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in 2018. She will become the fourth woman to hold the UNGA presidency. To ensure equitable geographical representation, the presidency of the Assembly rotates each year among five groups of States: African (1), Asian (2), Eastern European (3), Latin American and Caribbean (4), and Western European and other States (5).

Greece emerged from the biggest bailout in economic history after nine years of austerity measures. Post the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, many European countries had huge government debts but Greece was the worst affected, with a spiraling spending deficit. Greece had to seek financial rescue from the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Exercise Maitri is a joint military exercise between India and Thailand.

Venezuela is facing Hyperinflation, power cuts, food and medicine shortages and this has led to millions of Venezuelans leaving the country. Venezuela is rich in oil, and has the largest proven reserves in the world. It sells oil to other countries and imports the goods the country wants and need from abroad. In 2014, with a fall in oil price and a shortfall in currency Venezuela found difficult to import goods at the same level as before, and imported items became scarcer. The result: businesses increased prices and inflation rose.