Health systems

Oxfam analysed the World Bank’s emergency health funding to 71 countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While its response has been rapid and significant, Oxfam finds that the World Bank has missed vital opportunities to strengthen public health systems so they can tackle COVID-19 and deliver health for all in the future. 

Six months after the International Conference on Ebola Recovery in New York, at least $1.9 billion worth of promised funds have not been delivered and scant information is available about the remaining $3.9 billion.  Global leaders are failing to honor their promises to communities devastated by Ebola in West Africa as $5.8 billion of pledged recovery funds proving almost impossible to track.

Oxfam welcomes the World Bank's announcement to provide money to support the long term recovery of the three Ebola-affected countries. It is crucial that the world does not turn away once the Ebola crisis is brought under control if we are going to prevent outbreaks from striking again.

The World Bank and international donors must find $1.7 billion to improve dangerously inadequate health systems in Ebola-affected countries said Oxfam.

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is one of the leading causes of death around the world, with 8.2 million deaths in 2012. In low- and middle-income countries, expensive treatments for cancer are not widely available.

Scholarships for study in the former Soviet Union were offered to students in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and across the developing world. The Russian program, previously reduced, is now expanding again. This report aims to establish just what impact these programs have had on healthcare systems and how they can be improved.

Sierra Leone has declared a public health state of emergency in a bid to contain the spread of Ebola, including imposing quarantines. An effective quarantine strategy provides a means of mitigating the spread of Ebola and saving lives, but only when implemented correctly