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Oxfam and local humanitarian partners assisting people hit by multiple cyclones in Southern Africa

Oxfam and its humanitarian partner organisations are providing humanitarian support including cash, food, clean water and sanitation to people recovering from multiple cyclones that have torn across Southern Africa in the past two weeks.

The region has been most recently rocked by Cyclone Batsirai and earlier Tropical Storm Ana. Ana alone affected over 180,000 people, killing at least 38, mostly in Zambezia, Nampula, and Tete provinces in Mozambique, flooding thousands of hectares of land and causing landslides. In Malawi, 37 people have been reported dead, 22 missing and 158 injured. Over 193,558 households (948,434 people) are affected, and 740 hectares of crops have been destroyed.

The ferocity and frequency of the storms are consistent with scientific warnings of worsening climate-related harm. Edward Thole, a Program Manager at Circle for Integrated Community Development (CICOD), one of Oxfam’s partner organisations, said that having strong climate-proof mitigation and safety measures already in place ―such as new water dykes around Bona village in Malawi― was “a life-saver”.

Margaret Kasumgwi, from Phalombe in Malawi told Oxfam: “The floods came when it was getting dark. Within minutes, water was knee high. We ran to safety leaving everything behind. Everything we had, including our food, is gone. We have no one to turn to because everyone here is affected. We are hungry.”

Justin Kumbira, a smallholder farmer from Salima village in Malawi, said he and his family had lost property to other floods over the past years: “I don’t know what else to do because every time we rebuild something, floods come and take everything. Floods have reduced us to beggars because we can’t feed ourselves now”.

“It will not be easy getting back on our feet. My field is destroyed, and crops may not make it, we have lost food we were keeping in the house, clothes gone and right now finding work is very difficult,” Kumbira said.

Oxfam in Southern Africa Programme Director, Dailes Judge said: “the increased frequency of tropical storms and other climatic shocks in the region means 88 million people across this region, that are already extremely poor as a result of inequality and two years of COVID-19, have little resilience left and their capacity to bounce back is severely constrained. This is largely due to decreased funding to emergency, recovery and long-term support to affected communities.”

For the past three years, five tropical storms have hit the Southern Africa region killing 780 people and leaving nearly 5 million people extremely vulnerable. On several occasions, the storms have been followed by dry spells and drought, perfect breeding conditions for pests such as fall armyworms that have decimated many thousands of hectares of crops.

Oxfam and partners are urgently calling for more aid to boost the humanitarian response to affected countries, build up people’s resilience building and moving into longer-term development.

 

Notes

Oxfam and partners’ humanitarian response is currently happening in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. To date, 3,425 people have been reached with water sanitation and hygiene, food assistance through multipurpose cash transfers and gender and safeguarding interventions.

Crisis deepening: Gordon Brown warns of unjustified “COVID-19 complacency” and $16 billion gap in vaccine and treatment regime

 “I’m not sure the world will ever forgive us” for worsening vaccine inequality and treatment of Africa “as bad as under colonial rule”, says former UK prime minister on Oxfam podcast

“People have become complacent about COVID-19. Our global (health) funds are fast running out of money. Vaccine inequity is getting worse,” said former UK prime minister Gordon Brown today.

Guesting on Oxfam’s EQUALS podcast, Brown said that “we must alert the conscience of the world” to act given the high possibility of more lethal variants “coming back to haunt even those who are fully vaccinated. We may feel safe, but we are not safe, as long as the disease can spread and mutate”.

Brown, who was appointed in 2021 as World Health Organization (WHO) Ambassador for Global Health Financing and is a member of the Club de Madrid forum of democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers, spoke of rich countries approach to tackling COVID-19 so far as being an ethical, economic and epidemiological failure.

He warned that the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) ―the WHO’s initiative to coordinate the fastest health response out of the crisis― currently has a $16 billion funding hole. Brown spoke of only “weeks” left to resolve this.

“Unless the money comes in urgently, we will not be able to fund the next stages of vaccines, treatments, testing, and even the medical oxygen and PPE needed by nurses and doctors (around the world),” he said.

Brown wants governments to take “extraordinary measures” today as it did for the 2008 global financial crash. He urged them to share the burden of funding according to their ability to pay, as they do now in funding UN peacekeeping or the World Bank or the IMF, rather than “unfair” and failing voluntary contributions. He said how the world had eradicated smallpox was a successful example.

Brown said it was “short-sighted to take such a narrow view of national self-interest” for rich countries to vaccinate only their own citizens in prolonging a mutating crisis that could cost them $5 trillion in loss of trade, economic activities, companies going bust, and jobs lost. “This will bite back even those countries that have a big vaccination program,” he said, criticizing the fact that vaccination rates in rich countries currently stand at 75 percent against 11 percent across Africa.

“We need a vaccine patent waiver and technology transfer. What’s happened in Africa is as bad as what happened under colonial rule. Africa has been deprived of vaccines but also of the ability to manufacture its own vaccines because it does not have the patents to do so.” Brown slammed the EU as “unconscionable” for taking vaccines made in South Africa late last year, at a time that Europe was 60 percent vaccinated while Africa stood at less than 3 percent. He said that the “World Trade Organization should have agreed a long time ago” the patent waiver.

Brown said that the most urgent and immediate priority in tackling COVID-19 and getting more vaccines to people especially in developing countries was money. “People are dying now ―right now― because we can’t get enough vaccines and equipment and therapeutics to them quickly enough. We have to solve the problem now, and that requires proper funding now.”

“Even now more than 70 percent of vaccines are still coming to the G20 countries which means that the other 175 countries are simply losing out. We’re in this terrible position where 60 million vaccines have already had to be destroyed in the US, Canada, the UK and the European Union,” he said. 250 million more may have to be destroyed by Easter as being past their used-by date.

Brown said that the COVID-19 response was lacking funding, coordination and leadership. “An enlightened view of self-interest” would tell rich country leaders that all people must have the chance to be vaccinated to eradicate a disease that is likely to mutate and come back to hit you, he said.

Brown also called on social grassroots movements to come together around this “big picture” of saving lives. “We have to expose the anti-vaxx lies. We have to realise that social media matters. Most of all we have to give people a bridgehead of hope and a sense of that we can change things,” he said.

“If you can work for change and hope that the world can be a better place, you can persuade people to join you. I would stress organization and education and agitation, but I would stress the importance of persuading people that the world can be a better place through engendering hope in a better future.”

Notes

The EQUALS podcast about inequality is hosted by Oxfam. Listen to the latest episode with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Yemen: Rise in airstrikes and landmines add to misery for civilians in Marib after year of increased conflict

One year after the battle for Yemen’s resource rich Marib governorate escalated, the humanitarian situation has worsened as shifting frontlines, airstrikes and landmines displace nearly 100,000 people, many of whom have already fled multiple times.

Last month 43 airstrikes hit civilian targets, representing more than a fifth of all airstrikes in the Marib area since fighting increased in February last year. Most of these were on houses and farms, destroying homes and businesses that will take many years to rebuild.

Oxfam’s Yemen Country Director Muhsin Siddiquey said:

“This escalation in conflict, displacement and death that we are seeing in Marib is a snapshot of the suffering faced by communities across Yemen. Ordinary people who have sought refuge in a place once described as an oasis of calm have become collateral damage in a protracted conflict. The only way out of this is for the warring parties to meet and negotiate a permanent peace settlement.” 

Civilians also face danger from missiles and shells fired from the ground as well as landmines and improvised explosive devices. Eight civilians were killed by landmines in Marib governorate in January 2022 compared with five for the whole of 2021, reflecting a worrying rise in the use of these outlawed weapons. Landmines are often placed along roads and tracks across farmland leading to Marib city that are used by civilians bringing in goods to sell and migrants travelling through Yemen.

Siddiquey said:

“Landmines are barbaric. They don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants and their threat, together with unexploded bombs and shells, hangs over communities for decades until they are de-activated. One key road leading to Marib is now a no-go area.  Children have been killed while tending farm animals and even gathering firewood can be deadly. I am particularly worried by reports that records are not kept of where landmines are laid.”

According to UN figures, over one million displaced people live in Marib governorate, either with locals or in one of between 120 and 150 formal and informal sites. However local authorities put the figure at close to two million. Of these, many have now been displaced five or six times.  

Salem* and his family live in Alswidan camp on the outskirts of Marib. 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.”

The UN estimates that 85 per cent of displaced families are unable to pay rent on a regular basis as opportunities to earn money are scarce. Many are anxious about being evicted since some nine in 10 of the settlements are built on private land without occupancy agreements. Rental prices in Marib city have soared after the recent wave of displacements.

The spiralling currency depreciation coupled with an ongoing fuel crisis has seen prices of food, fuel and medicines more than double. Many people are forced to borrow money and are trapped in a cycle of debt, unable to afford their basic needs.

Yemen is now in its fourth wave of Covid and many displaced people lack access to basic facilities such as latrines and clean water.  Nearly eight years on from the start of the conflict only about half of healthcare facilities are still operating leaving two out of three Yemenis without access to health services.

Oxfam is working in Marib to improve water supplies, provide latrines and to provide cash transfers so families can buy basic essentials.  During the last year Oxfam helped 95,928 people in Marib including providing access to drinking water for 60,000 and cash transfers to 14,875.

The United Nations has issued a statement reminding warring parties that being at war does not absolve them of their obligations under international humanitarian law, which strictly prohibits disproportionate attacks and requires that all feasible precautions be taken to avoid civilian harm.

Since the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen – the UN appointed body responsible for monitoring human rights abuses in Yemen – was disbanded in October last year there is no international monitoring of human rights violations. All parties in Yemen’s protracted conflict have been responsible for civilian casualties.  

A boy plays with a goat in Yemen
A father sits with his young son against a green background
Salem and his family live in the Alswidan camp on the outskirts of Maribl, Yemen. Photos: Kaff Media, Oxfam

Oxfam reacts to Pfizer’s financial results on COVID-19 vaccine sales

In response to the publication of Pfizer’s financial results on COVID-19 vaccine sales for last year and projections for its Covid-19 vaccine and antiviral pill this year, Oxfam’s Robbie Silverman said:

“Pfizer’s results today are clear evidence of how the company has used its monopoly to enrich its shareholders at the expense of almost half the world’s population who still have no access to lifesaving vaccines.

“Millions are dying from COVID because companies like Pfizer have prioritised profits over saving lives. And it’s paying off for Pfizer, raking in as much as US$1 million every hour in profit. 

“It is obscene that we have allowed pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer to put their profits before the good of humanity as the pandemic drags on. No corporations should decide who lives and who dies.”

 

Notes:

  • The latest data (from Dec 21) available shows that just one percent of Pfizer’s vaccines have been delivered to low-income countries.
  • Oxfam estimates Pfizer is making over US$1m an hour profit from the vaccine alone.
  • Pfizer and the other drugs companies are unable to produce enough vaccines for the world. Oxfam has issued a shareholder filing calling on Pfizer to study the feasibility of transferring vaccine technology and know-how so that production can urgently ramp up around the world.

Over 40 NGOs warn of a deepening humanitarian crisis in Somalia and urge donors to urgently fund the UN appeal

7.7 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, as 98% of Somalia’s humanitarian appeal remains severely underfunded

Oxfam, together with over 40 NGOs representing the Somali NGO Consortium urged donors to immediately fund the current the current UN humanitarian appeal for Somalia, in order to prevent a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe. 

In an open letter to donors and the international community the signatories said:

We, the undersigned organisations, are deeply concerned for the lives of millions of Somalis facing a severe food crisis and are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. We call upon all donors including institutional donors, corporates, foundations, and individual philanthropic donors to urgently fund the current UN humanitarian appeal in order to respond to the escalating drought crisis in Somalia before it is too late.

Currently, 98 percent of the UN humanitarian appeal for Somalia of 1.46 billion USD has yet to be met and remains severely underfunded.

7.7 million people in various locations across Somalia are currently witnessing a shocking increase in humanitarian needs as the rains fail for a third consecutive season – possibly the worst drought in 40 years. Of those, an estimated 3.2 million people – in 66 out of 74 districts – are already suffering from a worsening drought. 1.4 million people will also be displaced in the coming months, congesting already overcrowded displacement camps and generating conflict over resources. Moreover, diarrhoea is spreading due to lack of sufficient clean water and hygiene services.

Malnutrition is on the rise across the most drought-affected states, as experts warn of a risk of famine as predictions for the next rainy season are worrying. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations reports that the drought severity has notably worsened since December 2021 and will continue to worsen. Local humanitarian leaders are saying that they have never seen such a drought; and that their biggest concern is an imminent famine if funds are not immediately received.

Despite this unprecedented need, only less than 2% (26.3m USD) of the total UN humanitarian appeal needed to respond to the Somali crisis has been funded to date.  A few donors have contributed so far: CERF (mostly Norway), the US Government, Germany, the EU, Canada, and Switzerland. Whilst we acknowledge that the overall humanitarian appeal tends to increase as the year progresses, we know that financing early prevents a catastrophe from happening and a costly response later and saves lives. The next few months are thus extremely critical to urgently respond to the needs on the ground.

In 2011, despite the warnings, the international humanitarian system did too little too late and an estimated 260.000 people lost their lives to a famine.  We must make sure that history does not repeat itself. By contrast, in 2017 the international community responded in force to the same indicators and averted widespread disaster, the same scale of response is needed again.

We, local and international NGOs, stand ready to increase our response to meet the need. Many of us, thanks to donor support and private funding, are already scaling up our existing programming to better meet the people’s needs. However, we cannot respond to the escalating crisis without a sharp increase in funds by donors.

We urge you to increase your commitments, cut and/or reduce red tapes to release and allocate funds. The time to act is now.

Signatories

  1. ACTED
  2. ActionAid International Somaliland
  3. Action Against Hunger
  4. Aid Vision
  5. AVSI Foundation
  6. Candlelight for Environment, Education and Health
  7. CARE
  8. Catholic Relief Services
  9. Centre for Peace and Democracy (CPDD)
  10. Cesvi Fondazione (CESVI)
  11. CISP – International Committee for the Development of Peoples
  12. Danish Refugee Council
  13. Development Action Network – DAN
  14. Development Now Initiative
  15. Diakonia
  16. Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe -DKH
  17. GREDO
  18. Humanitarian Translation for Somalia
  19. International Medical Corps (IMC)
  20. International Rescue Committee (IRC)
  21. Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW)
  22. Juba Foundation
  23. Life & Peace Institute (LPI)
  24. MEDAIR
  25. Mercy Corps
  26. Nagaad Women’s Network
  27. Nexus Platform
  28. Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
  29. Oxfam
  30. Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH)
  31. SSWC
  32. SADO
  33. Save the Children
  34. Social Empowerment Rehabilitation and Development Org. (SERDO)
  35. Somali Lifeline Organization (SOLO)
  36. Somali Women and Child Care Association (SWCCA)
  37. Sustainable Development & Peace building Initiatives (SYPD)
  38. Taakulo Somali Community (Taakulo)
  39. Volunteers for Relief and Development  (VRD)
  40. WASDA
  41. Welthungerhilfe (WHH)
  42. World Concern
  43. World Vision International
  44. ZamZam Foundation

 

Notes

Figures on humanitarian need and hunger levels are based on latest  UN OCHA in Somalia website  and UNICEF Somalia Humanitarian Situation Report No. 11  as of November 2021

Oxfam and Save the Children “Dangerous Delay” report was published in 2011: https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/a-dangerous-delay-the-cost-of-late-response-to-early-warnings-in-the-2011-droug-203389/  

Contact information

Spokespersons are available for interviews. Please contact:

In Somalia : Abdi Azizi  | Senior Advocacy & Communications Officer | [email protected]

Massive cuts in public spending and regressive taxes fuelling inequality in East Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed millions into poverty and dramatically increased inequality in East Africa, but not all are equally affected. 52 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were projected to be pushed into extreme poverty between 2019 and 2021. But today, the richest 10 per cent of East Africans are earning an average of 47 per cent of pre-tax national income across the region. Meanwhile, the poorest 50 per cent of citizens earn 13.3 per cent of national income.

Instead of taxing the wealthy, East African governments are planning to slash their public spending on pro-poor services like healthcare, education, agriculture and social protection in the coming years.

These cuts will worsen East Africa’s economic crisis, and deepen poverty and inequality in the region, but it is not too late to change direction – says the latest edition of Oxfam and DFI’s Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRII) report. Titled “The Inequality Crisis in East Africa,” the new report will be launched publicly at an international forum of government, civil society, private sector and donor representatives from East Africa and beyond, in Nairobi on 9th February, 2022.

Parvin Ngala, Regional Director (Interim) of Oxfam Horn, East and Central Africa, says:

“With these spending cuts, the region and respective countries risk spiralling into a never-ending cycle of inadequate health services, poor education facilities, economic decline with women and youth caught at the centre of the fall out/unable to maximise and indeed shape the future that the continent has potential for.”

East African countries have seen impressive economic growth in the past two decades, and significant reductions in poverty in most of the countries. But three have seen a widening gap between the richest and the poorest, and there has been little progress in reducing inequality in the other countries.

The pandemic, compounded by locust infestations and climate crises across East Africa, has brought the region’s worst economic crisis in decades, with millions losing their incomes, working hours, and education; exacerbating poverty, inequality and food insecurity:

  • Over 60 per cent of citizens reported losing income or work due to the pandemic, according to surveys from four East African countries.
  • The pandemic will push 11 million people into poverty in DRC, 6 million in Tanzania and 2.4 million in Uganda, according to UN estimates.
  • Some 900,000 Rwandans or 7 per cent of the population will have fallen into poverty by 2021, according to the World Bank.
  • 1 million people in Kenya and 3.8 million people in Somalia are at risk of starvation due to drought.

According to the report, COVID-19 revealed that East African countries were unprepared for a pandemic. They had:

  • limited access to essential health services – reaching less than 60 per cent of the population in all countries;
  • an average of 7 per cent of people spending catastrophic proportions (more than 10 per cent) of their income on healthcare;
  • limited commitment to spending on healthcare, with under 10 per cent of government budgets dedicated to health in almost all countries;
  • extremely low access to social protection benefits (using pension coverage as a proxy), with only 10.5 per cent coverage on average, and under 10 per cent in six countries;[1]
  • very low social protection spending of only 7 per cent of budgets (only 40 per cent of the global average);
  • an average of only 20 per cent of workers on formal contracts, therefore having rights to sick pay, job protection etc.

During the COVID-19 crisis, many governments increased their spending on health and social protection. But now they have long-term plans to slash public spending, which are being encouraged by lending bodies such as the IMF. From 2022 to 2026, five East African countries plan to reduce annual public spending by $4.7bn compared to 2021, IMF projections indicate. According to “The Inequality Crisis in East Africa,” not implementing these cuts would allow East African countries to quadruple health spending from now until 2026.

In South Sudan, where military generals outnumber doctors, health spending could rise by 13 times if these spending cuts are reversed. On the other hand, the cuts threaten to hamstring the abilities of East African governments to spend on health, education, social protection and food security so as to protect and support those marginalised by the pandemic and the economic crisis.

Matthew Martin, Director of Development Finance International, says:

“All the countries of the region are nowhere near reaching their national development goals on education, health and social protection. If these cuts are allowed to happen, this will mean East Africa is abandoning all hope of reaching the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and allowing extreme inequality to grow unchecked.”

To make matters worse, most East African governments have been forced to use more and more of their budgets to service their ballooning debts, rather than investing in their people. The report notes that from 2020 to 2021, 35.2 per cent of government revenues in East Africa were spent on debt repayment, an average of five times as much as they spent on health. South Sudan spent 28 times as much on debt servicing as they spent on health.

So, what can be done to reverse this crisis?

According to DFI and Oxfam, the report shows that taxing wealthy East Africans and corporations would give governments a way out of the crisis, and allow them spend more on public services that reduce inequality. Surveys from Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda show that over 71 per cent of citizens think it is fair to tax the rich more to fund programmes that benefit people living in poverty. If East African governments increase their tax revenues by just 1 per cent of their GDP, they would raise an additional $4.9bn each year for the next five years, which would be enough to raise health spending by an average of 77 per cent annually.

DFI and Oxfam also argue that comprehensive debt relief is essential for many countries in the region to have enough money to increase spending on basic services

Matthew Martin, Director of Development Finance International, says:

“All countries in the region need to increase taxes on the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations, and stop giving them tax exemptions. But this alone will not produce anywhere near enough money to fund universal free health care, education, social protection, food and water. External creditors should cancel all debt payments between now and 2030 to help pay for these basic needs.”

DFI and Oxfam recommend that East African governments urgently:

  • reverse the planned budget cuts and increase spending for health, education and social protection.
  • fund these enhanced spending efforts by increasing taxes on the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations and ending wasteful tax exemptions.
  • dramatically improve labour rights, including introducing or raising minimum wages.

They also recommend that the IMF and World Bank should transform their lending programmes to encourage East African countries to increase pro-poor and social spending, redistribute wealth through progressive taxation, and enhance labour laws and protections.

They urge the international community to accelerate the distribution of free COVID-19 vaccines to all East African countries, to ensure high levels of vaccine coverage by June 2022; and to cancel all debt service obligations between now and 2030, in order to allow East African countries to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.

Finally, DFI and Oxfam recommend that the African Union and East African Community urgently recognise their members’ inequality crises, and establish a plan and monitoring systems to track government measures to reduce inequality.

 

Notes to editors

Download the “The Inequality Crisis in East Africa,” report here after Feb 9, 2022 at 00:01 EAT.

The report launch event will take place on 9th February, 2022 at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (Abadares conference hall) in Nairobi, Kenya, and have in attendance dignitaries including (remote or physical):

  1. E. Dr. Abdirahman Dualeh Beileh, Minister of Finance, Federal Government of Somalia (Keynote address)
  2. Haji Farhiya Ali – Senator, Deputy Majority Chief Whip, & member of Committee on Finance and Budget (Kenya)
  3. Eric Wafukho – Chief Administrative Secretary, The National Treasury and Planning Ministry
  4. Usher Wilson Owere – Chairman General, The National Organisation of Trade Unions (Uganda) (remote)
  5. Jason Rosario Braganza – Executive Director, AFRODAD
  6. Filbert Baguma – General Secretary, Uganda National Teachers’ Union (remote)
  7. Gilbert Wangalwa – Deputy Country Director – Amref Health Africa
  8. Alvin Mosioma – Executive Director, The Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA)
  9. Tang Xiaoyang – Vice Chair, Department of International Relations | Tsinghua University (remote)

[1] Pension coverage is used as a proxy because data on overall social protection coverage are not available for all countries.