Press room

Oxfam calls on EU not to shut down ‘pharmacy of the developing world’

Joel M Bassuk — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:14:39 +0000

On the eve of a high-level summit between the leaders of India and the European Union in Delhi, Oxfam is calling on the EU not to pressure India into agreeing new trade rules that could deny hundreds of millions of people access to affordable medicines.

On the eve of a high-level summit between the leaders of India and the European Union in Delhi, Oxfam is calling on the EU not to pressure India into agreeing new trade rules that could den

At a time of declining aid budgets, efforts to increase medicine prices for the world’s poor would have a devastating impact on the achievement of health-related Millennium Development Goals.

Rohit Malpani

Oxfam Policy Advisor

Notes to Editors

Download the Oxfam media briefing for the EU-India Summit, Affordable Medicines under Threat

*The cost of medicines drops 90-99 percent with generic competition. Delays in introducing generics will result in medicine prices remaining patented and too expensive - which will increase the cost of health care for governments and households.

Contact Information

Angela Corbalan, EU media officer, Oxfam
+ 32 473 56 22 60
angela.corbalan@oxfaminternational.org
@angelacorbalan

Sarah Dransfield, Press Officer, Oxfam GB
+ 44 (0)1865 472269
+ 44 (0)7767 085636
SDransfield@Oxfam.org.uk

Follow the Oxfam EU Advocacy Office on @OxfamEU

International humanitarian system will not cope with increased case load without going local

Laurent Le Gouanvic — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The international humanitarian response system will fail to cope with the expected rise in the number of people exposed to crises unless there are more resources closer to where disasters happen and there is more investment in preventing and reducing the risk of disasters, warns Oxfam.

The international humanitarian response system will fail to cope with the expected rise in the number of people exposed to crises unless there are more resources closer to where disasters h

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International aid agencies cannot just pitch up, patch up and push-off, they also have to ensure that people and countries are better prepared to withstand future shocks.

Jane Cocking

Oxfam GB Humanitarian Director

Contact Information

Ian Bray, Senior Press Officer: +44 (0)1865 472289 / +44 (0)7721 461339

Risk of epidemic in Mozambique after the recent floods

Joel M Bassuk — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:19:25 +0000

Tropical storm Dando and cyclone Funso affected more than 117,000 people and left 40 dead in Mozambique last week. Oxfam and local partners are providing water and sanitation in Zambezia, to help reduce the risk of cholera and other sanitation-related disease.

Tropical storm Dando and cyclone Funso affected more than 117,000 people and left 40 dead in Mozambique last week
There is a high risk of water-related epidemics such as cholera in

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Oxfam's initial focus will be on emergency water supply, sanitation and health promotion.

Notes to Editors

Photos available here: http://files.zyncro.com/4TaaUP3

Contact Information

Maria Herranz Gete, Intermón Oxfam (Spain) +91 204 67 20 / 615359401, mherranz@intermonoxfam.org

Strong political will needed from African leaders to boost critical aspects of intra-African trade

Joel M Bassuk — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:22:53 +0000

As the 18th African Union Summit starts in Addis Ababa, civil society organizations from across Africa are concerned that the summit’s central theme, “Boosting Intra- African Trade,“ risks being overshadowed and will not get the focus needed to tackle this urgent issue.

Addis Ababa 27 January 2012- As the 18th African Union Summit starts in Addis Ababa, civil society organizations from across Africa are concerned that the summit’s central theme, “Boosting

Not only do we need decisions to be taken at a continental level to lead and speed-up this process, but leaders must also act concretely at regional and national levels.

Désiré Assogbavi

Notes to Editors

ECOWAS – Economic Community of West African States – An economic institution launched since 1975 that includes: Benin, Burkina-Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo

COMESA - Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa – Created since 1994 - Nine member states formed a free trade zone in 2000: Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SADC – Southern Africa Development Community – 15 members states launched in 1992.

EAC - East African Community - Launch since July 2000. Members’ states are Five East African countries Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

• Intra-African Trade figures are from UNECA, and also figures from Europe and Asia,
• Small scale farmers figures are from SADC

Contact Information

Charles Bambara - Mobile in Addis +251 (0) 912 963 910 other mobile + 221 77 639 4178
Alun McDonald - Kenya - +254 73 666 6663

Oxfam welcomes independent process to address community grievances in Uganda land dispute

Joel M Bassuk — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:10:08 +0000

Oxfam has welcomed the announcement of an independent process to resolve complaints from communities who were evicted from their land without compensation to make way for two forestry plantations in Uganda.

Oxfam has welcomed the announcement of an independent process to resolve complaints from communities who were evicted from their land without compensation to make way for two forestry plant

We welcome New Forests Company’s commitment to participate in this process and look forward to finding a resolution as soon as possible.

Barbara Stocking

OxfamGB Chief Executive

Notes to Editors

Complaint letters were sent to the CAO from the affected communities in Kiboga and Mubende on December 20, outlining the adverse social impacts related to the NFC operations. Both Oxfam and the Uganda Land Alliance were co-signatories. To view the letters, visit: http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

Contact Information

For more information, contact Lucy Brinicombe, +44(0)1865 472192 / +44 (0)7786 110054 / lbrinicombe@oxfam.org.uk

African Nations Cup stars join Oxfam to win the match against hunger

Laurent Le Gouanvic — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:01:37 +0000

On the eve of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, more than 25 footballers have spoken out in solidarity with millions of people facing hunger across their region.

On the eve of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, more than 25 footballers including Seydou Keita from Mali, Charles Kaboré from Burkina Faso, Demba Bâ from Sénégal and Lawali Idrissa from Nig

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If we act now we could save the lives of women and children, who are always the first victims of food crises.

Seydou Keita

Footballer, FC Barcelona

Notes to Editors

Photos link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/letstacklehunger/ - All photos should be credited Oxfam
Dedicated website for the campaign in the Sahel Region: http://www.letstacklehunger.org / http://www.taclonslafaim.org
Players’ photos and videos available: Les Aigles du Mali : Seydou Keita (Barcelona, Espagne), Mahamane Traore (Metz), Cédric Kanté (Panathinakos, Grèce), Drissa Diakite (Nice), Modibo Maiga (Sochaux) ; Les Etalons du Burkina Faso : Charles Kaboré (OM), Alain Traoré (AJ Auxerre), Moumouni Dagano (capitaine, Al-Khor Sports Club), Jonathan Pitroipa (Stade rennais FC), Bertrand Traoré (Chelsea) ; Les Mena du Niger : Lawali Idrissa (capitaine, AS FAN), Kamilou Daouda (Sfax), Boubacar Talatou (Orlando Pirates) ; Les Lions de la Teranga, Sénégal : Mamadou Niang (capitaine, Turquie, Fenerbahçe), Demba Bâ (Grande Bretagne, New Castle), Moussa Sow (France, Lille), Amara Traoré (coach), Ablaye Sarr (coach adjoint), Jacques Faty (Turquie, club Sivasspor), Omar Daff (France, Stade Brestois), Souleymane Diawara (France, OM), Armand Traoré (Grande Bretagne, Queens Park Rangers Football Club), Lamine Sané (France, Bordeaux), Rémi Gomis (France, FC Valenciennes), Souleymane Camara (France, Montpellier HSC)
While evaluations are still ongoing to identify those at most risk, early reports suggest six million people in Niger and 2.9 million people in Mali live in areas vulnerable to the coming crisis, while in Mauritania 700,000 people – over one-quarter of the population - are reported as at risk of severe food insecurity. In Burkina Faso, official estimates not yet released are likely to include over two million people at risk of being directly affected. In Chad, 13 out of 22 regions could be affected by food insecurity
Cereal production is down 25% across the Sahel region as a whole, but over 50% down in Mauritania in Chad, 31% down in The Gambia, 27% down in Niger, 20% down in Mali, 16% down in Burkina Faso and 13% down in Senegal
Food prices are 40% higher than the average for the last five years, but can be over 90% higher such as in some areas of northern Mali.

Contact Information

Media Contacts for more information:

Charles Bambara (Dakar): cbambara@oxfam.org.uk / +221 77 639 4178
Irina Fuhrman (Ouagadougou): ifuhrmann@intermonoxfam.org / +226 75420508
Anna Ridout (Oxford): aridout@oxfam.org.uk / +44 (0)7766 443506
Magali Rubino (Paris): mrubino@oxfamfrance.org / +33 630466604
Mahmat Ibrahim Saleh (N’Djamena): medmgrtd@intermonoxfam.org / + 235 6620 2845
Patrick Ezeala (Dakar): PEzeala@OxfamAmerica.org / + 221 33 869 0290

Inequality rises across the G20 as economic growth fails to trickle down to poorest

Julia Serramitjana — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:38:18 +0000

Inequality has increased in 14 of the 18 G20 countries since 1990 as economic growth has too often failed to benefit poor people.

Inequality has increased in 14 of the 18 G20 countries since 1990 as economic growth has too often failed to benefit poor people, according to new figures in a report published by Oxfam tod

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Governments can't wait for economic growth to trickle–down to the poorest.

Caroline Pearce

Oxfam

Contact Information

Jon Slater: +44 (0)7876 476403, jslater@oxfam.org.uk, @jonslater74

Thousands of lives and millions of dollars lost due to late response to food crisis in East Africa

filip — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Thousands of needless deaths occurred and millions of extra dollars were spent because the international community failed to take decisive action on early warnings of a hunger crisis in East Africa, according to a new report by the international aid agencies Oxfam and Save the Children.

Lessons learned can help prevent future disasters and save lives

Thousands of needless deaths occurred and millions of extra dollars were spent because the international communit

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We all bear responsibility for this dangerous delay that cost lives in East Africa and need to learn the lessons of the late response.

Barbara Stocking

Chief Executive, Oxfam GB

Notes to Editors

Broadcast-quality footage and photographs of the East Africa crisis and response are available.
While it is impossible to calculate exactly how many people have died in the East Africa crisis, one DFID estimate suggests that it could be between 50,000 to 100,000 people, more than half of them children under five. Another estimate made by US government was that more than 29,000 children under age 5 died in 90 days from May to July. Widespread support for livelihoods threatened by drought would have done much to prevent malnutrition taking hold. The death of livestock due to the drought wiped out the income of hundreds of thousands of families, leaving them unable to afford to buy enough food. Early supplementary feeding of livestock could have kept herds alive, markets functioning and could ultimately have helped prevent the malnutrition that killed so many.
According to UN OCHA, in southern and central regions of Somalia a standard measure of malnutrition (median Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence) increased from 16.4% to 36.4% in 2011. This means that GAM already exceeded the 15% ‘critical’ threshold early in 2011.
Save the Children has reached more than 280,000 people in Somalia, in addition to more than one million in Ethiopia and over 440,000 in Kenya.
Oxfam has reached about 1.5m in Somalia, 300,000 in Ethiopia and about one million in Kenya with clean water, sanitation services, therapeutic feeding for malnourished children, cash and livelihood support.
Early warning systems in the Sahel region show that overall cereal production is 25% lower than the previous year, and food prices are 40% higher than the five-year average. The last food crisis in the region, in 2010, affected 10 million people.
Read the Charter to End Extreme Hunger, endorsed by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs Kristalina Georgieva and other leaders including UK Development Minister Andrew Mitchell.

Contact Information

Anna Ridout, +44 (0)7766 443506 or +44 (0)1865 473415, ARidout@oxfam.org.uk

Two years on and Haiti’s reconstruction proceeds “at a snail’s pace”, leaving half a million Haitians homeless

filip — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

In a report released today, Oxfam urged the Haitian Government and countries that have pledged money for rebuilding to accelerate reconstruction of the country.

In a report released today, international agency Oxfam said that two years on from the earthquake, reconstruction of the country has proceeded “at a snail’s pace” leaving more than half a m

Haiti earthquake 2010

Notes to Editors

Two years on, Oxfam has provided aid to more than one million people through emergency earthquake response and cholera prevention work. In 2011, with the new Government of Haiti in place, Oxfam began to shift its focus from emergency needs to working with Haitian partners on initiatives aimed at boosting the country’s reconstruction, from improved water and sanitation systems to job creation within Port-au-Prince as well as in rural areas.

Contact Information

Ana Arendar: +509 3701 8515
Peleg Charles: +509 3701 4933

South Sudan struggling in face of growing refugee crisis

Laurent Le Gouanvic — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:21:17 +0000

Six months since South Sudan’s independence, the world’s newest nation is struggling to cope with a major refugee crisis and massive internal displacement, international agency Oxfam said today.

Six months since South Sudan’s independence, the world’s newest nation is struggling to cope with a major refugee crisis and massive internal displacement, international agency Oxfam said t

Crisis in Sudan and South Sudan

South Sudan is one of the poorest and least developed nations in the world, and the influx of refugees is placing enormous strain on already scarce resources.

Fran Equiza

Oxfam's Regional Director in Horn, East and Central Africa

Contact Information

Alun McDonald, Media and Communications Officer, Horn East & Central Africa
Mobile: +254 73666 6663
Office: +254 202820147
Twitter: @alunmcdonald @OxfamEAfrica