COVID-19

More than a million women and girls in Burkina Faso are facing increased sexual violence, hunger and water shortage as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on top of the existing conflict, said Oxfam today.

The EU plays a role to fix global health challenges, but some EU policies make it harder to access healthcare and medicines. The EU must play its part in ensuring that everyone can access healthcare.   

Coronavirus is threatening us all. With each day, in every family, community and country, more of us are being personally affected by it. To beat the pandemic and avert harm to the lives of billions we must work together. We need to act across all countries and for every person. Fighting for some but not others is not an option. It only fuels risk for us 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.

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.

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. 

Since 2015, the crisis in Burkina Faso has continued to deteriorate. A committed woman living in a dramatic security context, Naomie Ouedraogo Bicaba is shaking up traditional thinking to make her contribution to the return of peace. With the coronavirus pandemic, peace is more than ever a question of survival in the country.

Iraq is a fragile state with 4 million people still in need of humanitarian assistance and the coronavirus pandemic is likely to exacerbate vulnerabilities. In light of this, Oxfam’s work is more crucial than ever. Along with our partners, we work closely with local authorities and communities, as well as supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs.

As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, vulnerable workers in the informal sector in the Horn East and Central Africa region have been hit hard and are being pushed on the edge of poverty. Read the story of Atsede, a mother of two, working as a vegetable street vendor in Ethiopia and fighting every day to bring food for her children.