Health

In fragile states, war zones and in poor countries, the human and economic costs of COVID-19 threaten to kill millions and push billions more into poverty.

What will the world’s response to the COVID-19 crisis mean for the two defining and interconnected challenges of our age: climate change and global inequality?  

The bushfires have shown us what climate change looks like. A reality millions are facing today all over the world. We reflect on the crisis and what we can do today.

Kelly Langford, an Indigenous medical student, witnessed the heartbreaking burden of diabetes in her community and was inspired to take action.

No matter where you live, raising a family is a tough job. But if you’re a parent living in poverty, raising a family becomes more than a difficult task: it can test their very limits to survive.

After another National Close the Gap Day, we take a look at what you’ve achieved and what still needs to be done to achieve Indigenous health equality.

Oxfam is providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene education in some of the world’s poorest countries. In fact, it’s one of the things we do best. View six beautiful photographs that showcase the benefits of clean water after an emergency and in our long-term development work.

Victor wants to be a pilot, but without access to a clean toilet, he may never realise his ambition. This is the photo story of how one clever toilet is protecting children from disease, keeping kids in school, and changing the lives the people in the Mukuru slum in Kenya.

Davis has lived in Mukuru — a giant urban settlement, or slum — since the year 2000. The lack of proper sanitation and infrastructure in the urban slums of Nairobi cause vicious outbreaks of disease. But Davis has seen children’s lives saved with something called a Fresh Life toilet.

On her way to school, Yusra negotiates the toxic human waste that lines the streets. The sanitation crisis in her home — the Mukuru slum in Kenya — means residents are forced to use pit latrines and plastic bags as their toilet. The threat of disease lingers every where, but the implications of poor sanitation for young women and girls are particularly complex.

In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, almost two million people live in informal settlements or ‘slums’. Water and sanitation facilities are completely inadequate, disease rates are high and poverty is rife. Amy Christian travelled to the Mukuru slum in Kenya and discovered how one innovative toilet is saving lives and changing them for the better.

Today is National Close the Gap Day, an important day to make your voice heard. With adequate funding, Aboriginal health equality is possible by 2030. Join the thousands who today, are demanding Indigenous health equality within a generation.

When Amy Christian visited Mozambique, she met Tereza and her family. Tereza is the sole provider for her family and finds it difficult to provide for her family not knowing where the next meal will come from. Read her experiences and find out how you could change someone’s life.

Dirty water can cripple a community. Waterborne diseases mean children will miss school, and collecting clean water would take hours from a school day, every day. But now, with easy access to clean water, students at Dingizwe Hight School have more time for education.

What is a “tippy tap”? Well, as you can see in this video, it’s an ingenious device that Oxfam use all over the world to promote hand-washing and good health and hygiene. It’s a simple construction of three sticks holding up a jerry can. A piece of string and a fourth stick make a foot […]

Kids can really surprise you. Like when they do something you thought was impossible. When visiting our projects in South Africa recently, we found that a little girl named Yolanda who saved her entire family from disease — using just four sticks and a plastic container.

Thanks to supporters just like you, Sineth now has the opportunity of planting and maintaining her own vegetable garden. This means fresh, healthy food for her and her children.