Press releases

Cyclone Amphan has left a trail of devastation throughout north-east India and the Bangladesh coast, with over 80 deaths reported so far, destroying homes, embankments and crops, and compounding the suffering in many communities already hit by coronavirus and the impact of the lockdown.

Oxfam today announced that it is bringing forward a reorganization of its global operations as it implements its new strategic framework and adapts to the continuing financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We needed the World Health Assembly to unite behind a People’s Vaccine, not a Trump Administration seeking scapegoats for a pandemic it has mis-handled from the start", said Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager at Oxfam, commenting at the closure of the World Health Assembly today.

Cyclone Amphan, the strongest ever cyclone recorded over the Bay of Bengal, is expected to hit north-east India and Bangladesh tomorrow (Wednesday, 20 May) threatening millions of people in vulnerable communities already affected by Covid-19 outbreaks and lockdown.  

The Greek Asylum Service has issued thousands of rejections to asylum-seekers while its public-facing services were closed for over two months.

Commenting on a near final draft of a resolution on access to coronavirus vaccines, treatments, and tests, that is expected to be agreed by Health Ministers at the World Health Assembly this evening, Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager said: “The agreement on the table is simply not fit for purpose. It leaves too many barriers standing in the way of a coronavirus vaccine for all."  

Almost one million Rohingya people in the world's largest refugee camp are facing the added threat of a cyclone as the first cases of Covid-19 are confirmed, Oxfam warned today. The Cyclone, which looks likely to form off the coast over the weekend, could bring further suffering and destruction to the camps on top of a potentially devastating health crisis.

"In lieu of global cooperation and solidarity, pharmaceutical companies are being empowered to act as kingmakers ―deciding who lives and who dies― and using this new-found power to extract subsidies and potentially high prices for new COVID-19 vaccines," said Oxfam today in response to reports that French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, will prioritize the US for any new COVID-19 vaccine.

Vaccinating the poorest half of humanity —3.7 billion people— against coronavirus could cost less than what the ten biggest pharmaceutical companies make in four months, Oxfam said today. 

More than 140 world leaders, experts and elders have made an unprecedented call for guarantees that COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, tests and treatments will be provided free of charge to everyone, everywhere.