Coronavirus

"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. 

There has been a catastrophic failure by the international community to forge a global ceasefire in order for countries in conflict – and the world at large – to stop the coronavirus and save millions of lives, said Oxfam 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.

The coronavirus pandemic will have devastating health, social and economic impacts in the world’s poorest countries. To measure up to this once-in-a-century crisis, save lives and build a better future, donors must urgently and massively increase international aid funds.

The coronavirus outbreak is currently occupying the entire world - and requires prudent action. But good crisis management requires more than just scientific research. It also requires political and social responses. Feminism has already developed the ideas that can now close the gap of inequality which becomes even more obvious in times of crisis.

"The unprecedented global health crisis must be met with a vaccine plan that puts people ahead of the profits of big pharmaceutical companies," said Oxfam ahead of the Coronavirus Global Response Summit on Monday 4 May, which aims to raise $8 billion to develop vaccines, treatments and tests to help end the Covid-19 pandemic.