What Oxfam is Doing
An Oxfam local partner is launching its programs to remove waste and contaminated water in and around homes while distributing supplies like soap and mosquito nets to help those living in the midst of the floods protect their health. And for the people in greatest need whom the floods have cut off from their incomes, our partner will distribute cash to buy essentials.
Senegal
More than 150,000 people have been directly affected by the floods in Senegal. Tens of thousands are sheltering with neighbors and relatives; the rest remain in their flooded houses, facing heightened risks of contracting skin and diarrheal diseases, as well as malaria.
In Pikine – a poor city located on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal – an Oxfam partner known as Eau Vie et Environment (EVE) is undertaking a program to pump water out of flooded alleys and homes and remove waste from septic tanks and latrines before it flows into the streets. EVE will also distribute hygiene supplies like soap and mosquito netting to help protect the health of residents.
Most families in Pikine have no stores of food in their houses - depending instead on day-to-day purchases - but with the markets flooded, those who make a living there have lost their small incomes. Oxfam and EVE are identifying people who are particularly vulnerable, such as the elderly and women raising small children on their own, and will provide them with small sums of cash to help them purchase what they most need.
Oxfam hopes to reach 28,000 flood-affected people with aid in Senegal.
View a slide show about Oxfam’s work.
Gambia
Oxfam is working with its partner Concern Universal (CU) to distribute water buckets, hygiene supplies and information, and cash vouchers in flood-affected areas of Gambia – aiming to reach 4,600 people.
Follow us online