Barbados is experiencing longer lifespans and fewer births—but what does this mean for our jobs, pensions, healthcare, and the very fabric of society?

Hear insights from Professor Dwayne Devonish, Chief Labour Officer Wayne Sobers, and BARP President Marilyn Rice-Bowen as they unpack the challenges and opportunities ahead.

INSIDER'S REPORT | WE ARE LIVING LONGER | THE EFFECTS OF A DEMOGRAPHIC REVOLUTION

Catch up on information you might have missed during the week.

This week's programme features:
1.	Village Builders Programme
2.	NHC on SurePay
3.	Barbados Job Register

This Week’s In Case You Missed It Opportunities – October 1 - 7:
-	Graydon Sealy Secondary Canteen Tender (to download)
-	Barbados Employment and Career Counselling Service – follow on Instagram @molbarbados246
-	NCF Writer’s Clinic  - follow on Instagram @thencfbarbados and website ncf.bb

To download a copy of these opportunities, go to https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/download/in-case-you-missed-it-october-1-7-2025/


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT OCTOBER 1 - 7 (2025)

In Gaza City, families still ask the same question they’ve been repeating for two years: “where can we go that’s safe?” The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) insists that the answer is “nowhere”.

The south is desperately overcrowded, sanitation is collapsing, and air strikes continue to hit so-called safe zones. Many families cannot afford to leave, nor do they have a tent or a place to put it, insists UNICEF spokesperson James Elder.

“There’s a real level of fear and stress among the community here in Gaza City and in the south,” he told UN News. “People don’t have a choice. They’re well aware of the lack of safety.”

Hospitals are also overwhelmed. At Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Mr. Elder described child trauma cases and injuries as “as bad as I’ve ever seen”, while at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younes he saw corridors lined with mothers and newborns as wards buckle under the devastation of Gaza’s health system.

UNICEF warns that with nowhere safe to go and health facilities collapsing, children face unrelenting trauma and danger. Without urgent protection and humanitarian access, their suffering will only deepen, the agency maintains.

Audio credit: UN News
Picture Credit: UNICEF/UNI820856

CLIP – ‘Where can we go that’s safe? Nowhere’: UNICEF on Gaza’s children

• Haiti: Human rights chief Türk condemns use of drones on gangs: #HRC60
• Gaza’s maternity wards full, mothers and babies in danger: UNFPA, UNICEF 
• Syria prison survivor’s pursuit of justice for those still missing 

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News

UN News Today 02 October 2025 - Haiti crisis, Gaza update, Syria

Terrified children and quadcopter wounds: 30 minutes in Gaza hospitals
Nowhere is safe in Gaza as the Israeli military push continues for full control of Gaza City, UN and partner aid agencies said on Friday.

In this update, UNICEF, WHO and the ICRC describe harrowing conditions in the wartorn enclave’s remaining hospitals which are overcapacity and lacking the lifesaving equipment they need to save lives.  

“I saw children who've been paralyzed, who've been burnt and who've had amputations, all following direct hits on their tents or tents in the surrounding area, all at around two o’clock in the morning,” says UNICEF’s James Elder, who speaks first in this clip, followed by WHO’s Dr Rik Peeperkorn and then ICRC’s Christian Cardon.

Pictured: Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which has been hit several times by Israeli airstrikes since October 2023. Credit: UNDP

Gaza Update: UNICEF, WHO, ICRC

• Drone victims, terror and death: 30 minutes in a Gaza hospital: UNICEF, WHO
• Haiti: 8,000 people facing famine-like conditions, warns WFP
• Ukraine war more deadly than ever, warns UN rights chief

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News

UN News Today 03 October 2025 - Gaza, Haiti, Ukraine war

The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, is urging people in the restive eastern part of the country not to lose hope after years of conflict.

Binto Keita spoke to UN News’s Jérôme Bernard a few days after she briefed the Security Council in New York on the overall situation in the DRC.

She emphasized that the government, the UN and the international community remain engaged in efforts to bring peace to the east, where armed groups continue to terrorise communities.

Ms. Keita expressed compassion and empathy for the Congolese people whose “resilience is also very much admirable.”

Audio Credit: Jérôme Bernard, UN News

DR Congo: UN mission chief salutes resilience amid civilian suffering in the east

• We are not powerless in face of atrocities in Gaza, West Bank, Ukraine and beyond, insists UNHCR chief 
• Human Rights Council investigators to probe Afghanistan violations 
• Gaza’s displaced face deadly threats while fleeing violence, warn aid teams

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News

UN News Today 06 October 2025 - Gaza, Ukraine and beyond, Afghanistan human rights violations

Thinking of scrapping an old car? Listen to the step-by-step guidance from the Barbados Licensing Authority on how to legally and safely scrap your vehicle. 

Learn more by visiting the BLA website at https://bla.gov.bb

SPOTLIGHT ON THE BARBADOS LICENSING AUTHORITY | SCRAPPING A VEHICLE

Two years after Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, Gaza’s humanitarian emergency is worsening fast, UN aid agencies warned on Tuesday. Civilians face starvation, mass displacement and collapsing health care as violence continues.

“Civilians everywhere have to be protected,” insisted Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, and hundreds of thousands endure starvation and displacement. We renew the call for an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to flow freely at the scale needed.”

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) described the devastation for Gaza’s children. “Sixty-one thousand children have reportedly been either killed or maimed since the horrors Hamas unleashed in Israel and what followed after the disproportionate response from Israel,” spokesperson Ricardo Pires said. “That’s an average of one child either killed or maimed every 17 minutes; an unacceptable, staggering figure.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that famine and malnutrition are spreading beyond Gaza City, with more than 640,000 people now facing catastrophic food insecurity and 400 deaths linked to hunger, including over 100 children. UNICEF added that premature births are rising as hospitals run out of power and incubators, and reiterated the call for a ceasefire and unhindered access to life-saving aid.

CLIP – ‘One child killed or maimed every 17 minutes’ as Gaza crisis deepens: UN humanitarians

• Guterres marks two years since Hamas-led attacks on Israel, UN agencies warn Gaza’s children still paying the highest price
• Mozambique: Renewed violence displaces 22,000 in a week as conflict intensifies in Cabo Delgado, UNHCR warns
• Sudan: UN sounds alarm as fighting and hunger worsen in besieged El Fasher

Audio credit: Katy Dartford, UN News

UN News Today 07 October 2025 - Gaza, Mozambique, Sudan

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