As governments scramble to respond to the unprecedented coronavirus crisis, which is threatening the lives of millions and the livelihoods of billions of people, aid organisations like Oxfam are racing to scale up their lifesaving work. Announcing an emergency appeal to help the world’s most vulnerable communities in the face of the crisis, Oxfam Australia […]
Rich countries barely increased international aid by 1.4 percent overall in 2019, while they cut humanitarian assistance by 2.9 percent, according to figures published overnight by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In response to the news, Oxfam Australia’s Head of Political Engagement Emma Bull said that while many wealthy countries gave more […]
Refugees living in camps are sharing one tap between up to 250 people and many have less than 3.5 square meters of living space per person which will make it extremely difficult to contain a coronavirus outbreak, Oxfam said today. The virus could also be catastrophic for people and places hit by conflicts, like Yemen, […]
Seven of Australia’s leading international aid agencies are urging the Federal Government to include in their COVID-19 economic support package specific measures to help charities continue their life-saving work in the most vulnerable communities worldwide. The organisations – CARE Australia, ChildFund Australia, Fred Hollows Foundation, Oxfam Australia, Plan International Australia, Save the Children Australia and […]
50 suspected cholera cases recorded every hour for five years With a recent upsurge in fighting in Yemen, the forthcoming rainy season and tightening of borders due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, there’s no end in sight to the daily toll of death, disease and displacement five years after the conflict escalated, Oxfam warned today. […]
Protecting the most vulnerable people and communities and taking care of one another must underpin our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Oxfam Australia Chief Executive Lyn Morgain said today. “We understand the deep concerns of people here and overseas as we all grapple with great uncertainty and a rapidly changing context in a bid to […]
Yemen is suffering a forgotten cholera crisis, Oxfam said today, as it warned the number of people there with the disease could spiral as the country approaches rainy season in April and health systems are close to collapse. The north is at greatest risk because of the scarcity of water there. The five governorates of Sana’a, […]
Two Oxfam aid workers were today killed in an attack at 2pm local time in Dar’a governorate in Southern Syria, between Nawa and Al-Yadudah. Wissam Hazim, Southern Hub Staff Safety Officer and Adel Al-Halabi, a driver, were both killed when their vehicle was attacked by a so-far unidentified armed group. An Oxfam volunteer was also […]
Locust infestations have just hit two new districts in northern Uganda as they continue to plague Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, and threaten Sudan and South Sudan. There are also reports of the swarms now in Tanzania. “Everyone is in panic and trying to make noise to drive the locusts away,” said Oxfam’s Ethiopia Country Director […]
More than 52 million people in 18 countries across southern, eastern and central Africa are facing up to crisis levels of hunger as a result of weather extremes, compounded by poverty and conflict. Some areas are facing a second extreme drought in four years and worse than that sparked by El Nino in 1981. In […]