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Typhoon Rai: Hundreds of thousands brace the new year cramped in evacuation centres, some confined in rooms taking up to four families at a time

Following Typhoon Rai, hundreds of thousands of families are spending the new year in cramped evacuation centres, some being confined in rooms hosting four families at a time, according to Oxfam.

“Typhoon survivors already spent Christmas in evacuation centres; let’s not keep them there for New Year’s Day too as we are still battling the COVID-19 pandemic”, said Oxfam Pilipinas Country Director Lot Felizco.

“Congested conditions raise major health risks as it is impossible for them to observe physical distancing. The lack of water and sanitation facilities also make frequent hand washing and proper hygiene habits more challenging for typhoon survivors,”” added Felizco.

The government reported that over 370 people have died and 4.5 million Filipinos across 10 regions have been affected and displaced by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai). Initial monitoring showed that at least 400,000 houses were damaged — 127,000 of which were completely destroyed.

In some areas affected by Typhoon Odette, residents are already staying in makeshift houses built from salvaged materials. “These are not sturdy or safe enough as rainfall continues in many parts of the country,” Felizco said.

Women and children’s safety are particularly at risk as there are no room partitions between families. In some evacuation centres, people are also forced to bathe in open areas due to the continuous low water supply. In some evacuation centres, people are also forced to bathe in open areas due to the continuous low water supply.

Oxfam Philippines calls on donors and the international community to prioritise funding for shelter repair materials on top of food and water for typhoon-hit communities. Providing construction materials to the community will allow typhoon survivors to repair and rebuild their homes, and help, in turn, decongest evacuation centres.

In Siargao, Oxfam and partner United Youth of the Philippines-Women (UnYPhil-Women) have already distributed 200 hygiene kits, 200 sleeping kits, and 200 water kits for the island barangay in San Fernando, Del Carmen town.

Oxfam and its partner “Community Organizers Multiversity” are also currently transporting 500 food packs, 500 hygiene kits, 150 sleeping kits, 300 water containers, 90 boxes of aqua tabs, and 50 shelter kits to island barangays of Caub in Del Carmen; Mabini and Dayahoay in Pilar town.

Moreover, Oxfam Pilipinas has deployed solar packs to support SIKAT and the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Offices of Padre Burgos and Macrohon in Southern Leyte.

Notes

Oxfam Pilipinas is a humanitarian and development organisation that has been addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality in the Philippines in the last 30 years. It is part of an international confederation of organisations present in 90 countries.

  • While COVID-19 cases in the Philippines is much lower now compared to previous months, other countries are experiencing a surge in new cases due to the Omicron variant.

 

Oxfam is today greatly saddened at the loss of Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International said: “All of Oxfam is united in grief at the death of Archbishop Tutu. We express our deepest condolences to the Archbishop’s wife Leah, their children and grandchildren. We express our condolences to the South African people”.

“Rarely does a name inspire so much courage as that of Archbishop Tutu. The flame that Archbishop Tutu carried against injustice lit millions more. The world is a better place because of him”.

“Archbishop Tutu was Oxfam’s former global ambassador – raising global attention and tackling issues with us, from global hunger to the climate crisis. He was a friend, and a critical friend when needed. Most recently he gave his support to tackling the issue of global vaccine inequality”.

“Oxfam’s own role in supporting the anti-apartheid movement forged our own connection with his generation of leaders, who continue to inspire us today. Oxfam will play its part in preserving his legacy by continuing the struggles that he fought for throughout his life.”

Rich countries have received more vaccines in run-up to the holiday season than African countries have all year

  • The EU, UK and US have received more doses in the last six weeks than African countries have received all year.
  • Global rollout at speed of UK’s booster programme could vaccinate the world by February.
  • At current rates vaccine manufacturers will fail to deliver enough doses to fully vaccinate everyone in Africa by next holiday period.

More doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been delivered to the EU, the UK and the United States in the six-week run up to the holidays than African countries have received all year, new analysis from the People’s Vaccine Alliance reveals today.

As Covid-19 clouds a second Holiday season in uncertainty and fear in many countries, campaigners warn that governments risk trapping the world in an endless cycle of variants, boosters, restrictions and even lockdowns, if low vaccination rates are allowed to persist in the global south. 

Low and middle-income countries must be allowed to manufacture vaccines themselves to end vaccine inequality and prevent variants from derailing future holiday seasons, campaigners warn.

Between 11 November and 21 December 2021, the EU, UK and US have received 513 million doses of vaccines while countries in Africa received just 500 million throughout the whole of 2021.

The UK government, facing a rapid surge in Omicron variant, has a target of administering one million booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines a day in response, equivalent to vaccinating 1.46 percent of the population every day. If every country was able to vaccinate at the same rate as the UK target, it would take just 68 days to deliver a first dose to everyone who needs one, leaving no one unvaccinated by the end of February 2022.

Just 8.6 percent of people in Africa have been fully vaccinated to date and at the current rate of delivery by vaccine manufacturers, it won’t be until April 2023 that everyone will receive their first dose. Recent research found that 78 percent of people in Africa are willing to get vaccinated, higher than in many rich countries.

G7 countries will have 1.4 billion surplus doses by March 2022, even after giving all adults a booster but are failing to deliver on donation pledges. The US has delivered just a quarter of the vaccines it promised to donate while the UK and Germany have delivered 15 percent and 14 percent respectively.

Anna Marriott, Health Policy Manager, Oxfam and the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said:

“Make no mistake rich country governments are to blame for the uncertainty and fear that is once again clouding the holiday season. By blocking the real solutions to vaccine access in poorer countries they are prolonging the pandemic and all its suffering for every one of us.

“Rich countries are banking on boosters to keep them safe from Omicron and future variants of Covid-19. But boosters can never be more than a temporary and inadequate firewall. Extinguishing the threat of variants and ending this pandemic requires vaccinating the world. And that means sharing vaccine recipes and letting developing countries manufacture jabs for themselves.”

Experts have raised concerns that low vaccine coverage in the global south created conditions where a variant like Omicron was likely to emerge. Nine months ago, a survey of leading epidemiologists warned that persistent low vaccine coverage in parts of the world increased the risk of vaccine resistant variants emerging within a year or less. 

Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, said:

“If we ever want to have a normal Christmas again, we need to vaccinate the world. But right now, the UK and EU are holding back international efforts to use and expand manufacturing and distribution capacity in low and middle-income countries. It’s reckless and risks trapping us in an endless cycle of variants, boosters, restrictions and even lockdowns.”

In October 2020, India and South Africa proposed a waiver of intellectual property rules on Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments to allow low and middle-income countries to manufacture these life-saving tools. Despite most countries, including the United States, supporting a waiver, the UK, EU, and Switzerland have prevented progress.

Maaza Seyoum from the African Alliance said:

“Leaders in the global north have so far chosen the obscene profits of pharmaceutical companies over the lives of people in Africa. But the Omicron variant shows that vaccine inequality is a threat to everyone, everywhere. Boris Johnson, Olaf Scholz, and European leaders need to finally support an intellectual property waiver and let Africa and the global south unlock its capacity to manufacture and distribute vaccines. Otherwise, humanity will never beat the race against the next variant.”

Human Rights Watch and Médecins Sans Frontières identified over 100 manufacturers that could produce mRNA vaccines if intellectual property barriers were removed and pharmaceutical companies transferred the technology and knowhow needed.

Despite already making billions in profit, Pfizer and Moderna continue to refuse to share the new generation of vaccine technology with the WHO’s mRNA hub in South Africa. WHO scientists are now attempting to reverse engineer Moderna’s US-taxpayer-funded vaccine, a process that could take two years longer than if the company shared its vaccine recipe.

Every major vaccine provider has boycotted the WHO’s Covid-19 technology access pool (C-TAP), a technology transfer programme established in May 2020 to share the recipe and knowhow needed to manufacture coronavirus vaccines, tests and treatments. 

In a video marking World Aids Day, Prince Harry called on governments to break vaccine monopolies, joining over 170 former world leaders and Nobel Laureates, the Pope and more than 13 million people in their support for the waiver.

 

Notes

  1. Data on delivery from Airfinity, analysed by People’s Vaccine Alliance.
  2. In total the EU and UK and US have received over 2 billion vaccine doses, including boosters, as well as first and second doses.
  3. Our World in Data was used to calculate how many doses were needed to vaccinate people in Africa.
  4. Over the last 40 days, African countries are receiving on average enough doses to fully vaccinate 3 million a day (fully vaccinates is 1 dose of Johnson & Johnson and 2 doses for all other vaccines). At this rate, it will take 438 days for everyone currently unvaccinated in Africa to be fully vaccinated.
  5. While rich countries have cut bilateral deals with pharmaceutical companies to secure dose, poorer countries have depended on Covax, the multilateral mechanism for equitably distributing Covid-19 vaccines, which has repeatedly cut delivery forecasts, as well as a trickle of donations from wealthy countries which are often close to their expiry dates.
  6. Numbers of doses donated by rich countries https://www.ifpma.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Airfinity_COVID-19_Intel_Report_16December2021.pdf page 7
  7. Pharmaceutical monopolies will net Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna $34 billion this year in pre-tax profits.

Oxfam: local officials call for urgent aid in typhoon-hit areas in Visayas

Oxfam Pilipinas on Monday echoed local officials in Eastern Visayas calling for immediate assistance for survivors of Super Typhoon Rai (local name: Odette).

Super Typhoon Rai, which is the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, has resulted in the deaths of 208 people as of December 20, according to the Philippine National Police. Most of the deaths come from Central Visayas, followed by Caraga, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Eastern Visayas.

The latest report of the Department of Social Welfare and Development showed that 1.8 million people across 9 regions in the Philippines were affected by the super typhoon.

Oxfam Pilipinas staff located in Eastern Visayas said that in Matalom, Leyte, 90% of the infrastructure and properties in the town have been destroyed, affecting 36,000 people. Photos of the community posted by Oxfam showed that residents have resorted to bathing and doing laundry in the river because electricity and water supply have yet to be restored.

In Brgy. Matapay in Hilongos, Leyte, 210 houses were totally damaged while 700 families were affected. Residents of the two mentioned areas are now calling for food, water and shelter kits.

The mayor of Maasin City, Southern Leyte, where 47,030 residents were affected, is also seeking donations of food, water, hygiene kits, sleeping mats, tents and materials to repair houses.

“It is our first time to experience such strong winds brought by the typhoon and it devastated almost all of the households, almost all of the barangays,” Maasin City Mayor Nacional Mercado told Oxfam.

Mercado said their city only had one casualty since most residents evacuated before the typhoon made landfall but 1,677 houses were totally destroyed and 2,182 were partially damaged.

Oxfam Pilipinas’ Resilience Portfolio Manager Leah Payud, who hails from Eastern Visayas, likened the impact of Super Typhoon Rai to that of Super Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) in 2013, especially since it caused widespread damage to property and agriculture, which in turn affected the lives and livelihood of people. Payud said she was also reminded about how many areas are unable to receive adequate resources.

“Many areas here in Leyte and Southern Leyte are badly hit by the typhoon and need immediate attention. People are struggling to find food, water, and other necessities. People who had cash had to line up for more than three hours to withdraw,” Payud said.

She pointed out that far-flung and remote areas should be prioritized, especially since they are farthest from city centres and sources of relief goods.

Oxfam Pilipinas Lot Felizco said they are hoping that the national government, private sector and non-government organizations can work together to make the relief and recovery process quicker and more efficient.

“Besides the loss of shelter and livelihood due to the typhoon, residents also have to worry about the risks of COVID-19 in evacuation centres. The sooner we disseminate aid such as shelter kits and repair materials, the safer it will be for our kababayans,” Felizco said.

“It is also important to ensure the dignity of typhoon survivors. They should not be made to beg for aid,” she said, pointing out that there are already reports and photos of residents holding up signs on the street, asking for food and aid.

Last week, Oxfam and partner humanitarian groups distributed P4 million to 2,650 families in Eastern Samar as pre-disaster financial aid before Typhoon Odette struck. The anticipatory action was meant to help families prepare food, water, medicine, transportation to evacuation centres and even shelter repair materials in advance.

Notes

Oxfam Pilipinas (Philippines) has been distributing food, water, medical help, livelihood, sanitation facilities and other forms of support to communities affected by conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic and other calamities in the Philippines for the past 30 years.

As fighting intensifies, thousands displaced by Yemen conflict could be forced to flee again, Oxfam warns

A recent increase in fighting across Yemen has forced over 100,000 people to flee their homes in the last three months, prompting Oxfam to warn that further mass displacements are imminent. Over 120 civilians have been killed in the last two months with people facing danger from airstrikes, missile and shell fire, landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Fighting has increased in recent weeks, particularly in resource rich Marib governorate where fierce clashes are concentrated to the south and west of Marib city around the Balaq mountains. Since September, 46,000 people have fled to Marib city or the Al Wadi district to the east, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Local authorities in Yemen have put the number at over 96,000.

Marib City had a population of 41,000 people only seven years ago but now hosts over one million people who have sought a safer place to live. Marib governorate is home to between one and two million displaced people.

Oxfam Yemen’s country director Muhsin Siddiquey said:

“There is fighting on all frontlines around Marib – previously it was only in certain areas. We are worried that we will not be able to reach some displaced people because they are so close to active frontlines. We are constantly trying to support more people in Marib but we need to be able to help them safely. We’ve already had to move our cash distributions as frontlines shift. Our team keep witnessing shelling in populated areas every week.”

As well as trying to flee the fighting, displaced people are dying in the harsh winter conditions. Local media have reported that an elderly lady and a young baby died at the weekend. 

Many people have been forced to flee several times and Oxfam is concerned that they have nowhere left to run. Land to the east of Marib is dry and with scarce resources.

Salem* and his family had to live in caves and drink pond water when they were first displaced. They fled to two different camps before eventually reaching Alswidan camp on the outskirts of Marib. Each time, he and his family would leave everything behind and walk for hours to reach their next safe location. He said:

“People in the camp are always afraid of military actions that could hit them anytime. We all live in anxiety. I can’t even leave the camp for a short time. I live with fear about my family and my family sleep and wake up frightened.”

Marib is not the only area affected by the recent increase in violence. Civilians have suffered losses in attacks carried out by different warring parties across the country. In October, fierce fighting near Al-Abdiyah severely restricted humanitarian access and access to hospitals, leading to concerns that situation may be repeated in Marib.

During nearly seven years of conflict, over four million people have been forced from their homes and there have been over 18,500 direct civilian casualties. Over two-thirds of Yemenis are now in need of humanitarian assistance.

The UN Human Rights Council voted to end the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen, the body responsible for monitoring human rights in Yemen, in early October. All parties in Yemen’s protracted conflict have been responsible for civilian casualties.  

Siddiquey said:

“Humanitarian Law clearly states that civilian areas must not be targeted in any conflict. Yet civilians continue to be killed and homes and other civilian infrastructure continue to be destroyed. This crisis is getting worse, as is daily life for Yemeni civilians caught in the crossfire. The international community must urgently negotiate a lasting peace.”

 

For more information please contact:

David Bull, Oxfam Aotearoa

+64 274 179 724

 

Notes

Failure to vaccinate the world created perfect breeding ground for Omicron, say campaigners

Campaigners from the People’s Vaccine Alliance say the refusal of pharmaceutical companies to openly share their vaccine science and technology and the lack of action from rich countries to ensure access to vaccines globally have created the perfect breeding ground for new variants such as Omicron.

A year since a UK grandmother became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, great strides have been made to fully vaccinate over three billion people, but many poorer parts of the world have been left behind. While countries like the UK and Canada have had enough doses to fully vaccinate their entire populations, Sub-Saharan Africa has only received enough doses to vaccinate 1 in 8 people. The number of people in the UK who’ve had their third booster jab is almost the same as the total number of people fully vaccinated across all of the world’s poorest countries.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance, which has over 80 members including the African Alliance, Oxfam and UNAIDS, are calling for pharmaceutical firms and rich nations to change course before it is too late. This must include:

  • Immediate approval of the waiving of intellectual property rules to end the monopoly control of pharmaceutical firms over COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments. The World Trade Organization (WHO) General Council must urgently reconvene now, not next year, to finally get a waiver agreed.
  • All vaccines including new versions of vaccines designed to combat the Omicron variant to be declared global public goods, and vaccine recipes and know-how shared openly with producers worldwide via the WHO.

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS and Co-Chair of the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said: “Omicron is with us because we have failed to vaccinate the world. This should be a wake-up call.

“Business as usual has led to huge profits for pharmaceutical firms, but many people left unvaccinated meaning that this virus continues to mutate. It is the definition of madness to keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome. We need to press reset.

“We call on Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech and others to change course. You have made huge profits in the last year. We now have vaccine billionaires. You don’t need to make any more money. Changing your vaccines to meet the challenge of Omicron is no good if your vaccine recipes are once again locked up behind a wall of profit and monopoly.”

The Alliance are also calling on rich nations to change course by using all their powers to insist on the open sharing of successful vaccine technology and know-how and to fund a huge expansion in vaccine production all over the world.

Back in March, the Alliance along with 77 epidemiologists from some of the world’s leading academic institutions warned that unless we vaccinate the world, we’d be at risk of virus mutations that could render our current vaccines ineffective.

Maaza Seyoum, of the African Alliance and People’s Vaccine Alliance Africa, said: “Fighting to buy up limited supplies of hugely expensive vaccines to protect your own citizens whilst ignoring the rest of the world will only lead to more variants, more mutations, more lockdowns and more lives lost. The same leaders, after failing the world repeatedly while allowing profiteering, are now laying the blame at the doorstep of the countries they have ignored.

“Pharmaceutical monopolies and profiteering have prevented vaccination in Africa and the rest of the developing world. It is time that pharmaceutical companies and rich nations finally put protecting people and putting an end to this pandemic ahead of profits, monopolies and self-defeating attempts to protect themselves whilst allowing this disease to rampage across the rest of the world.”

Oxfam’s Health Policy Manager Anna Marriott said: “With the new threat of the Omicron variant, it is clear that we cannot just booster our way out of the pandemic while leaving much of the developing world behind. Unless all countries are vaccinated as soon as possible we could see wave after wave of variants.

“What is the point in developing new vaccines in 100 days if they are then only sold in limited amounts to the highest bidder, once again leaving poor nations at the back of the queue?

“We cannot correct the mistakes of the past 21 months but we need rich countries to chart a new path forward in which they step up and insist the pharmaceutical companies start sharing their science and technology with qualified manufacturers around the world, so we can vaccinate people in all countries and finally end the pandemic.”

In a statement sent to European Union negotiators and member states this week, the People’s Vaccine Alliance joined with more than 170 charities, NGOs, unions and campaign groups – including ONE campaign and the International Union of Food Workers – in criticising the EU’s opposition to a waiver of intellectual property rules. The statement said that “the identification of the Omicron variant only heightens the urgency of a change in approach and is evidence of why the EU’s position is a threat to us all”. 

Last week Norway was the latest of more than 100 countries to offer their support for the waiver. Meanwhile President Emmanuel Macron withdraw France’s earlier support, a decision the Alliance has called ludicrous and dangerous in the face of the new variant.

John Mark Mwanika, ITF Urban Transport Chair, Uganda, said: “It’s not only shameful that six times more booster shots are being administered daily than primary doses in low-income countries, it’s an enormous risk to ending the pandemic globally.

“It is no coincidence that the new Omicron variant was first discovered by scientists in countries which have been denied the right to produce their own vaccines. We are in a global emergency and workers are paying the price, particularly in the Global South.”

The People’s Vaccine Alliance has created a virtual memorial wall to honour and remember those who have lost their lives to COVID-19, and to demand that leaders act to prevent more deaths.

 

Notes to editors:

  • The People’s Vaccine Alliance has created a virtual memorial wall will be revealed at peoplesvaccine.org/memorial-wall on 8 December, marking a year since the first vaccine was administered.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa countries have received enough doses to fully vaccinate 136,765,144 people, 12.8 per cent of the total population or 1 in 8, according to Airfinity data analysed by the People’s Vaccine Alliance.
  • Figures for how many vaccines the UK and other Western countries have received are from Airfinity.
  • According to Our World in Data 9 million people in Low Income Countries are fully vaccinated. As of 2 December, the UK had administered booster doses to just over 19 million people, according to: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations
  • Information on the survey of epidemiologists carried out by the People’s Vaccine Alliance in March available here.
  • The full statement to the EU and list of signatories is available here.

Copyright © 2024 Oxfam Aotearoa.

Oxfam is a worldwide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against injustice. Oxfam Aotearoa is a registered charity with the New Zealand Charities Register (registration CC24641). Donations are tax refundable.

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