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The deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is looming, and the poorest countries face significant funding gaps as well as growing economic inequality that stands in the way of poverty reduction.

A decent education or quality healthcare is a luxury only the rich can afford in too many countries. Across the globe 262 million children are out of school. 10,000 people die every day because they can’t access healthcare. Teachers and public health care workers like Nellie and Dorra dedicate their life to great public services that benefit the poorest. And fight inequality every day.

The report Captured Democracies: A Government for the Few presents 13 case studies documenting how political and economic elites manipulate the decision-making processes of governments to their own advantage and against the interests and rights of the majority in Latin America and the Caribbean, the world’s most unequal region.

New Oxfam research shows that four pharmaceutical corporations – Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co (MSD), and Pfizer – systematically hide their profits in overseas tax havens. This activity could deprive developing countries of more than $100 million every year – money that is urgently needed to meet the health needs of people in these countries.

Did you know that some fishermen in Southeast Asia report working at sea for up to 14 hours a day and 27 days a month, earning as little as $0.50 per hour?  Whether it is fished or farmed, sold in local markets or stocked on supermarket shelves, too much of the food we buy is produced at the expense of human welfare. Learn more and take action.

Dangerous, poorly paid work for the many is supporting extreme wealth for the few. Women are in the worst work, and almost all the super-rich are men. Governments must create a more equal society by prioritizing ordinary workers and small-scale food producers instead of the rich and powerful.

Lan, 32, works in a factory in southern Vietnam, which produces shoes for global fashion brands. She works six days a week for at least nine hours a day, earning around $1 per hour. Read her story and stand with her in the fight against inequality.

When global corporations and the super-rich use tax havens to avoid paying their fair share, it is the poorest countries and people who lose most. This briefing lists five actions governments can take to tackle tax avoidance and end the era of tax havens.

Women farmers play a central role in small-scale agriculture. But they are held back by barriers that prevent them from feeding their families and reinvesting in their livelihoods. A real support would protect their rights, boost their productivity and unleash their potential to fight hunger, poverty and climate change.

Development Finance International and Oxfam have produced the first index to measure the commitment of governments to reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.