Responding to the G20 Heads of State Summit, Rebecca Gowland, Head of Inequality, Campaigns and Policy, said: “In 2020 the richest economies bolstered their resilience to Covid-19 with a $10 trillion injection while providing 2,000 times less than that – $5 billion – in debt relief to the poorest countries. In the direst global health and socio-economic crises for 100 years the G20 has failed to adequately support the poorest people in the world.

“Moderna’s discovery could be a real game-changer in the fight against COVID-19. However, on its own, Moderna can only produce enough vaccine for less than seven percent of the global population by the end of 2021, almost all of whom will be in rich countries," said Anna Marriott, Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager, in response to the announcement today from the National Institutes of Health that early data shows Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective.

“The pharmaceutical industry’s attempt to rubbish the World Health Organisation’s initiative suggests that they care more for profits than people’s health," said Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager for Oxfam, in response to the World Health Organisation’s call for governments to back a voluntary scheme to share trial data and patents relating to vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization's declaration is a major step in attracting the world’s attention to the Ebola crisis in DRC

Oxfam congratulated Dr Tedros on his appointment as new Director-General of the World Health Organization today and warned that determined leadership was needed to tackle health inequalities around the world

Ahead of the 65th World Health Assembly (WHA), taking place in Geneva next week, International agency Oxfam has warned that the fundamental role of the World Health Organization (WHO) as the leading agency for global health is at risk because it has suffered from a severe financial crisis and related heavy staff losses.

New Oxfam report: The proliferation of substandard medicines in poor countries is being used by rich countries as an excuse to tighten intellectual property rules, boosting the profits of large pharmaceutical companies while making it harder for poor people to get access to the medicines they need.

Poor-quality, or “substandard”, medicines threaten patients and public health in developing countries.

The World Health Organization’s World Health Report 2010, launched in Berlin today, reveals that out-of-pocket payments are by far the greatest obstacle to achieving universal health care. But all countries - no matter how poor - can take immediate steps to increase investments in health.

The World Health Organization should encourage greater competition between drug companies to ensure poor countries can afford to stockpile medicines effective against swine flu, Oxfam will tell the World Health Assembly this week.