With the bank poised to replenish funds to back expansion of healthcare among the world’s poorest people, it needs to measure what matters – and what matters is that billions are being forced into poverty and hardship by the costs of care. Anna Marriott, Rosemary Mburu, Harjyot Khosa and Waiswa Nkwanga on a critical omission from the Bank’s ‘IDA21’ policy package.
Why we must never repeat the mistakes of a ‘gender-blind’ COVID response
Pandemics are bad for women’s health – but they are also bad for their labour rights, suggests research from Matahari Global Solutions and the People’s Vaccine Alliance. Harry Bignell and Abha Jeurkar set out key gendered impacts of the pandemic – including the impact on trans and non-binary people – and call for pressure on global leaders to make sure we avoid them in future.
In so many places, women’s mental health has been neglected for too long. Here’s how we’re working with communities to change that
In a blog for World Mental Health Day, Julian Kosh looks at a pilot project to support survivors of abuse, trauma and cancer in Kenya and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. At its core is a ‘flexible funding’ approach that gives women’s rights organisations the freedom to test new approaches to mental health in the ways they think best
The injustice over vaccines is being replayed: as rich countries deny billions access to lifesaving COVID-19 treatments
The World Trade Organisation decision in June – far from being the comprehensive waiver we campaigned for – outrageously omitted life-saving tests and treatments, says Harry Bignell. Now the UK and other rich countries must unblock access to medicines and diagnostics, or risk devastating global consequences
Faced with impossible healthcare costs, unsafe housing and rampant discrimination, Lebanon’s LGBTQIA+ people are in survival mode
The price of a single therapy session is now half the monthly minimum wage and most LGBTQIA+ people face violence where they live. In the first in a series of blogs to mark Pride month, May Achour introduces two new Oxfam policy briefs on the state of healthcare and housing
How trust between partners in Nepal made our pandemic response fast and effective
Bureaucracy or lack of understanding of communities can slow down crisis response. Our project, backed by the Grundfos Foundation, shows how solidarity between local and international partners can get round the obstacles, say Oxfam’s Sherrell Perkin and Sarah Marioni
People can’t afford to pay for health care in a pandemic. Why isn’t the World Bank doing more to help?
As the World Bank’s Annual Meetings kick-off virtually this week, the COVID-19 pandemic is still surging in many countries, killing people, destroying livelihoods and deepening inequalities. The World Bank’s health response has been lightning-fast (by donor standards) and important, with $6 billion in initial funding to help countries coping with the health impacts of the outbreak through its COVID-19 Fast …
COVID-19 in South Africa is causing frontline women workers to pay for skewed health systems
As with many other healthcare systems around the world, COVID-19 has delivered a sharp blow to South Africa’s. Before the pandemic, the healthcare system was already struggling to cope with the combination of high HIV, TB & Malaria infection rates, a severe lack of funding to the public healthcare sector and persistent cuts to health spending. Now, with the highest …
Podcast: Duoi talks to farmers about Coronavirus in the Philippines
Duoi takes us out to visit farmers on the Midpulo Unified Agriculture Cooperative to explore how the coronavirus pandemic has affected food systems and farming in the Philippines. Power in the Pandemic brings you this week’s featured voice: Duoi Ampilan, from Mindanao island in the Philippines. Duoi has been focusing his efforts on changing up food systems to ensure food …