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.

Inequality is at crisis levels in West Africa, yet these governments are less committed to reducing inequality than the rest of the continent.

Oxfam is providing clean water and hygiene kits to survivors of yesterday’s mudslide on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Rich countries have paid out less than half the amount they originally pledged to help countries recover from a snapshot of three major humanitarian crises, according to Oxfam.