healthcare

The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion —at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day— during the first two years of a pandemic that has seen the incomes of 99 percent of humanity fall and over 160 million more people forced into poverty. 

West African governments are planning to “slash and burn” their way out of COVID-19 induced economic loss, reveals new analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) today. The organizations are calling for an urgent change of course as West African governments are preparing their annual budgets and participating in the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF, which are crucial discussions to focus the recovery on fighting inequality and poverty.

Over 1,000 health professionals from 66 countries have signed a letter urging the G20 to cancel the debt of developing countries, ahead of tomorrow’s extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers meeting.

The coronavirus pandemic is leaving a trail of devastation in low-income countries. This briefing aims to shine a light on the debt owed to private creditors by five African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. It outlines the steps which the G20 needs to take immediately to avert further economic chaos. 

84 percent of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) COVID-19 loans encourage, and in some cases require, poor countries hard hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic to adopt more tough austerity measures in the aftermath of the health crisis, warned Oxfam today.

Very low spending on public healthcare, weak social safety nets and poor labor rights meant the majority of the world’s countries were woefully ill-equipped to deal with COVID-19, reveals new analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) today.

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.

Women and girls work incredibly hard to care for others. Not only is this work unpaid, but it's often not seen as real work at all. If we valued care work the same as other work, it would be worth nearly $11 trillion US dollars a year. But its true value is much greater. To fight inequality and beat poverty, we must make care count.

A year after the current Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), new Ebola cases in Goma show potential for virus to spiral out of control.

Oxfam estimates that just one of the richest men in Ghana earns from his wealth more in a month than one of the poorest women could earn in 1,000 years. In this report, we call on the government of Ghana to use public spending to reduce inequality and put women’s economic empowerment at the heart of policymaking.