Drought-related risks are a primary concern throughout Ethiopia where 85% of the population is dependent on smallholder, rain-fed agriculture. Adi Ha is a drought-prone community that has expressed strong interest in incorporating insurance into its risk management strategy.
The pilot will adopt a holistic approach to risk management, examining the suitability of weather insurance and risk reduction measures such as seasonal forecasting and improved agricultural practices. All efforts will be undertaken in close collaboration with the local farming community with the overall objective of alleviating poverty.
The efforts will be funded by Swiss Re and Oxfam America, with primary technical support being provided by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University. Ivo Menzinger, Head of Sustainability & Emerging Risk Management, commented, "Swiss Re is delighted to support Oxfam in implementing this fundamental and important work in the Tigray Province. In particular, we can combine our commitment to corporate citizenship with providing consulting support to the project on risk transfer issues."
Swiss Re has pioneered weather risk transfer instruments in developing countries, starting in India in 2004 with a program reaching over 350,000 smallholder farmers. In 2007, Swiss Re introduced the Climate Adaptation Development Programme (CADP). The goal of the CADP partnership is to develop and implement weather risk transfer solutions in non-OECD countries.
Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser said: "This pilot offers a chance for smallholder farmers to become more resilient to changing weather patterns. It's an opportunity to increase the impact of Oxfam's risk reduction programs and explore exciting innovations in weather-based microinsurance..."
Over the last 35+ years, Oxfam America has worked to bolster the capacity of poor communities around the world to reduce vulnerability. Nevertheless, climate change is dramatically increasing the level of risk faced by the poor across the planet. For this reason, Oxfam America is interested in developing new mechanisms to address risk for poor farmers.
]]>"We welcome the important work that Chairmen Dingell and Boucher have put into their discussion draft for comprehensive global warming legislation. We now encourage the Energy and Commerce Committee to act in the coming year to advance legislation that will help poor communities prepare for and adapt to adverse climate impacts and reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically and fairly.
?We are pleased that one of the options in the draft recognizes the central importance of the international climate negotiations and the need to provide assistance to developing countries already being hit hard by climate impacts.
While least responsible for causing climate change, poor people around the world bear the brunt of its impacts and we look forward to working with the Energy and Commerce Committee to include and strengthen provisions addressing these critical international concerns.
?It is also encouraging that the draft includes support for developing countries to use renewable energy and protect ecosystems in ways that can help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change.
?While the draft includes provisions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we are concerned that the reductions will not be large enough or come fast enough to meet what scientific experts agree are levels of reductions necessary to curb the increasingly damaging consequences of global warming.
?We look forward to working with Chairmen and other Members of the Committee to improve this element of the legislation as well as to strengthen provisions to prevent harm to the poor both in the United States and in developing countries.?
]]>Nearly half of Somalia?s population, or 3.25 million people, are now in need of emergency aid. This is a 77% increase since the beginning of 2008. This number has increased dramatically over the past year due to the destructive combination of extreme insecurity, drought and record-high food prices. The situation is expected to deteriorate further with ordinary Somalis bearing the brunt of the cost.
Despite the ongoing political process we have not witnessed any lessening of the violence that continues to have a horrendous impact on civilians.
In the last few weeks, renewed shelling in Mogadishu has displaced approximately 37,000 civilians from their homes. Over the past nine months, 870,000 have fled for their lives. A total of 1.1 million people are currently displaced in Somalia today.
We are appalled by the indiscriminate and disproportional use of force by all armed parties to the conflict, which is further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
The poorest of Mogadishu?s residents have no means to flee the extreme violence and have limited means to earn a living leaving them completely dependent on humanitarian assistance. This while the average Somali has seen price increases for food and water of up to 1,000 percent, plunging many into worsening poverty. One in six children under five, or approximately 180,000 children, is acutely malnourished in South and Central Somalia.
Aid workers are increasingly the victims of assassination and kidnapping and are now seen as legitimate targets. This year alone 24 aid workers, of which 20 are Somali nationals, have been killed whilst carrying out their work. The whereabouts of another ten are unknown. There have been 111 reported security incidents directly targeting aid agencies.
National and international aid agencies are prevented from responding effectively to the needs of ordinary Somalis because of violence and severely limited access. At present, South and Central Somalia is almost entirely off limits to international staff of aid agencies.
We call upon all parties to the conflict to allow aid agencies unhindered access to Somalis who are in desperate need of emergency assistance.
The international community has completely failed Somali civilians. We call on the international community to make the protection of Somali civilians a top priority now.
Signatories to the statement (52 National and International NGOs):
A toxic cocktail of factors, including successive droughts, violent conflict and chronic poverty, has put an estimated 9 to 13 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. This situation has been compounded by rapidly rising food prices.
Oxfam’s Rob McNeil, who has just returned from the Somali and Afar regions of Ethiopia said: “This is a catastrophe in the making; we have time to act before it becomes a reality. The cost of food has escalated by up to 500 per cent in some places, leaving people who have suffered drought after drought in utter destitution. Some of the roads we travelled on were littered with dead livestock. There is little or no pasture or water for the animals that people rely upon. People are increasingly becoming desperate. I saw people in one village reduced to pounding the food pellets intended for their animals into porridge to feed their families. We fear that the worst could be yet to come as the crisis deteriorates across East Africa.”
In Somalia, the cost of imported rice increased by up to 350 percent between the beginning of 2007 and May 2008. In areas of Ethiopia, the price of wheat has more than doubled over a six-month period and food prices are expected to remain prohibitively high for many until the next harvest in October.
In the areas of East Africa heavily dependent on food imports, such as Somalia, global food price rises are making food more expensive. Local factors including poor harvests, market disruption due to insecurity and the rising cost of fuel globally have also played a role.
Besides a succession of poor rains, drought, high food prices, violent insecurity and chronic poverty, the region has been hit by pests and disease. An infestation of voracious caterpillars has damaged almost 70 per cent of crops and pasture in four northern districts of Kenya. Northern Kenya and Uganda have also suffered from an attack of a virus that causes high death rates of goats and sheep.
The impact of all these compounding problems is increasing destitution and misery for an already beleaguered population. This is the second serious drought in the region in the last three years and the human toll of the crisis is huge:
• In Somalia, 2.6 million, some 35 percent of the population, require emergency assistance. This could increase to half the population of the country (3.5 million) by the end of 2008. Between 18-24 percent of children are acutely malnourished.
• In Ethiopia, the government estimates 4.6 million people are now in need of emergency food assistance. This has more than doubled from 2.2 million in need of help at the beginning of this year. Some 75,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition in drought stricken areas according to the government.
• In Turkana, northern Kenya, an Oxfam survey showed that 25 percent of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, the highest in the country.
High malnutrition rates have been reported in several parts of Ethiopia and could increase without an immediate increase in humanitarian assistance. To address the worsening food crisis the Ethiopian government requires an additional $430 million.
Oxfam is calling on donors to increase aid levels to the region. A UN appeal for emergency aid for Somalia, one of the worst hit countries, has only received 37 percent of funding needs. The Ethiopian government estimates that only one-third of the funds necessary to manage the crisis have been received.
“The public must be asking why does this happen year after year. The answer is that the world consistently fails to adequately address the underlying causes of these crises. Chronic poverty in a world of gross inequality of wealth and opportunity lie at the heart of these cyclical crises. Both governments in the rich and poor world need to invest in a concerted action to tackle the underlying causes. We need to act to save lives in the short term but without investment in the long term as well then scenes of destitution will continue to haunt our shared conscience,” said Oxfam America president Raymond C. Offenheiser.
Besides responding to immediate needs Oxfam called on donors not to walk away from the region after the emergency phase has ended. Long-term investment in safety net schemes, agricultural development and building capacity of people to prepare for future disasters is needed to prevent the vicious cycle of food crises, which have plagued East Africa.
Across the region, Oxfam is currently reaching an estimated 500,000 people with water, food aid and cash programs. Oxfam is also helping people to protect and recover their livestock and their seeds for the coming planting season, and in the long term, to secure their livelihoods.
]]>?The Climate Security Act has provided a landmark opportunity to move Congressional debate forward on climate change,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?We commend the efforts of the many Senators who want to address the devastating consequences of climate change for the lives and livelihoods of billions of people who live in poverty.?
While praising the leadership of Senator Boxer (D-CA) and Senator Reid (D-NV) and the climate bill?s authors Senator Warner (R-VA) and Senator Lieberman (I-CT), Offenheiser warned that much is at stake in the battle to address climate change. ?Climate change will be the greatest humanitarian crisis of this century should we fail to act swiftly, decisively and responsibly,? he stated.
Along with efforts to curb greenhouse gases, the bill included an important provision to establish an international climate change adaptation program. The adaptation program would have directed a portion of the revenues from the auction of greenhouse gas emission permits to provide assistance to vulnerable communities in developing countries to adapt to the devastating impacts of climate change.
?A majority of Senators recognized the urgent need to advance debate on serious global warming legislation.? said Offenheiser. ?As evidenced by growing food insecurity and recent extreme weather events, climate change is hurting people now. We have no time to waste.?
One of the amendments not discussed on the floor because of the shortened debate was introduced by Senator Menendez (D-NJ) and Senator Snowe (R-ME) to significantly bolster the bill?s funding of critically needed international adaptation efforts for vulnerable developing countries, reallocating some of the bill?s allowances that would have been given as a windfall to major oil company refineries. Over 25 environmental, development and faith organizations, including Oxfam America, joined forces in support of the amendment.
?Congress and the new administration must move quickly to build on the Climate Security Act next year. A bill is needed that ensures significant reductions in US greenhouse gas emissions and provides substantial support to domestic poor and vulnerable communities in developing countries around the world that are already coping with the extreme impacts of floods, drought, storms and disease,? said Offenheiser. ?With every delay come increased risks of social instability and threats to national and global security from migration and refugee crises, conflicts over natural resources, and economic destabilization.?
?The failure to act will lead to even greater costs later,? said Offenheiser. ?Unfortunately, these costs will be measured not only in dollars and cents but in lives lost to hunger, disasters, and increased conflict.?
]]>Aid agency Oxfam International, which today launched its report ?Credibility Crunch?Food, Poverty and Climate Change?an agenda for rich country leaders? says the ministers? most urgent priority is to fill the US$30 billion hole in overseas aid. Failure to do this will cost five million lives, Oxfam says. G8 leaders promised at Gleneagles in 2005 to increase aid levels by US$50 billion by 2010.
The report is being launched as G8 finance ministers meet in Osaka on June 13-14 to discuss African development and the food crisis amongst other issues. Oxfam says that after years of broken promises, rich country governments must not hide from previous aid commitments if they are to meet the Millennium Development Goals and keep their credibility intact. Oxfam?s report author Max Lawson said:? Half-way towards the Millennium Development Goals deadline, instead of coasting to victory the world is staring at defeat.?
He said: ?These are the same ministers who spent more than a trillion dollars in six months to bail out their own banks, but they cannot find a fraction of that to save millions of lives. With an economic recession looming, they must not make the poor pay the price by reneging on their aid promises.?
?The finance ministers must propose ambitious aid increases into this summer?s G8 in order to keep their promises and meet the challenge of the current global crises, so that a better future for everyone can be secured.?
On the food crisis, G8 leaders must also commit financial assistance and ensure that all the money?including the US$6 billion pledged at the Rome summit last week?comes on top of existing aid commitments.
Oxfam points to a similar situation for climate change, where a lot of the money pledged to help poor communities cope with the effects of changing weather patterns is simply being taken from existing aid budgets or instead being made in loans.
?Poor countries face a triple injustice,? said Vicky Rateau, head of Oxfam International?s delegation for this year?s G8 in Japan. ?Not only do they have to pay the price for rich countries? pollution, but the little money available to help them is being diverted from already promised and much needed aid. Finally, the crowning injustice is that they are being asked to repay this money with interest.?
Oxfam proposes an agenda into the G8 this year that includes:
Vicky Rateau concluded: ?If no action is taken now to seriously reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not only will it be a clear step backward in the fight to combat global warming, but the impact on the world?s poorest may be devastating. It could erase all the progress made over the last decades to tackle poverty.?
]]>The EITD Act, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) last May, aims to reduce corruption and insecurity in the oil, gas, and mining industries. With more than half of the world?s poorest people living in countries rich in natural resources, this legislation would provide citizens with vital information to hold their governments accountable for how these revenues are used.
?Oxfam America applauds Congressman Shays for supporting this effort to foster accountability in nations where secrecy has undermined development, democracy, and human rights,? says Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization. ?It is no secret that lack of transparency in the extractive industries often goes hand-in-hand with government corruption and internal conflict. The industry suffers as a result with company investments at risk and higher energy prices for consumers.?
With record high oil prices and diminishing reserves, companies are increasingly operating in new areas of developing regions, including West Africa, the Amazon rainforest, and Southeast Asia. Given the weakness of government oversight in many of these countries, it is even more important that oil and mining companies be transparent. In Angola, for example, more than $4 billion in state oil revenues could not be accounted for between 1997 and 2002 ? an amount roughly equal to the entire sum spent on social programs by foreign donors and the government in the same years.
?Mandatory revenue disclosure has the power to weed out corruption in developing countries making way for stability and real solutions to poverty that the oil, gas, and mining industries can support,? says Offenheiser. ?If communities know how much extractive companies are paying their governments for natural resources, they can advocate for a fair share of the benefits to address community needs like education, health care, and jobs.?
The EITD Act would apply not only to US companies, but to all oil, gas, and mining companies registered with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). This includes European companies, such as Shell and BP, as well as those in emerging markets like China, India, Brazil, and Russia.
?This legislation is an opportunity for the US to take leadership in the international community,? said Offenheiser. ?Representative Shays is supporting an important step toward ensuring that communities know how mining and oil projects will impact their lives and lands and how money generated for their governments can contribute to the long-term reduction of poverty.?
]]>"Delay is not an option. The international community must provide support and assistance to the new coalition government,? said Charles Abani, Regional Director for of Oxfam in Southern Africa. ?Assistance must be carefully coordinated and managed, so that very weak state institutions are not overstretched. Zimbabwean civil society must also be included in a transparent process.?
Ordinary Zimbabweans are desperately short of food, health care, clean water and safe sanitation. The little food that is available is unaffordable to most. An estimated 3.8 million people are anticipated to be in urgent need of food assistance by October. Life expectancy for women is just 35 years, and unemployment stands at 85 per cent.
Investment in agriculture is key. Farmers need fertilizers and seeds urgently, so that they can prepare for the November planting season.
"The international community must not just throw money at this problem then walk away and say 'job done'. Zimbabwe needs a long-term plan, built on partnership and shared responsibilities, and supported by long-term, predictable aid from international governments,? said Abani.
?It is also important that the Zimbabwe government meets its commitments to rebuilding the nation. The coalition government must show leadership in the rebuilding process if international support is to succeed. They should ensure equitable and effective access to humanitarian assistance, extend the operational space for all civil society organizations, and deal quickly with outstanding registration issues for NGOs,? Abani added.
?Many local and international organizations who want to get back to helping poor people in Zimbabwe are still unable to do so because their registration status is pending. We urge the new government to facilitate the registration process in the interest of Zimbabweans in need of assistance.?
]]>Oxfam says that leadership must now be shown at key UN meetings on poverty in September and on climate in December.
Oxfam International Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs said ?never was more urgent action needed by the G8 than this week in Japan. Accelerated climate change, runaway food prices and growing poverty are depriving millions of people of their livelihoods and, in many cases, their very lives.
?Several governments championed steps to tackle the crucial issues sitting on the G8 agenda, but in the end this summit did not deliver the breakthroughs that are so urgently needed. The consensus reached was shallow at best, especially on climate.
?The search for deeper agreement among world powers does not end here. It will shape the agenda during Italy?s presidency. However millions of people living in poverty can ill afford another year without bold and united leadership.?
Antonio Hill, Oxfam?s climate change policy spokesperson, said: ?At this rate, by 2050 the world will be cooked and the G8 leaders will be long forgotten. The G8?s endorsement of a tepid ?50 by 50? climate goal leaves us with a 50/50 chance of a climate meltdown. We need 80% cuts of 1990 levels by 2050 and emissions to peak and start falling by 2015.
?The G8?s announcement on 2050 is just another stalling tactic that does nothing to lower the risk faced by millions of poor people right now. Taking climate change funds out of aid budgets?with overall aid going down?is patently unfair. Every aid dollar diverted to climate adaptation is one dollar less for medicines and schoolbooks.?
Oxfam Executive Director Jeremy Hobbs said, ?The G8 leaders do not seem to get it. The facts are clear. Rich country biofuels are a major cause of the global food crisis at this moment, yet the leaders barely mentioned them and blithely continue to burn food in their cars. It?s like discussing the Titanic but failing to talk about the iceberg.?
Oxfam International chief policy adviser at the G8, Max Lawson, said: ?The G8 leaders? clumsy attempt to backtrack on their aid promises has backfired. With two years to go to the 2010 deadline, G8 leaders now have to deliver the $50 billion in new assistance they pledged at Gleneagles. The world takes these promises seriously even if the G8 leaders do not.?
Charles Abani, Southern Africa Regional Director for Oxfam International, said: ?The poor of Africa will find little solace in the G8?s evasion tactics. Only when they come through with the $25 billion for Africa will we have cause to celebrate. The money is a pittance for the G8, but for poor Africans it could mean a future with lifesaving medicines and the chance to learn to read and write.?
On current trends, Oxfam said the G8 will fall $30 billion short of the 2010 promise, which could cost as many as five million lives, most of them among the 30,000 children who die each day from causes related to extreme poverty.
?The G8 failed to rise to the challenge of a world in crisis, a world that is demanding serious action. We must see renewed leadership in September at the UN Emergency Summit on Poverty and in December in Poland at the vital UN climate talks,? Hobbs said.
]]>"With the leadership of the governors who are co-hosting this event and the exciting new national leadership of President-Elect Obama, we are optimistic about the future in addressing climate change.
"We have two major tasks ahead: to help those suffering from serious climate impacts today and to help prevent even more catastrophic consequences in the future by reducing emissions. We must help those who are the most vulnerable adapt to the new climate reality by building climate resilience while at the same time working to reduce the prospects of further damage and destruction by reducing our own greenhouse gas emissions. We can and we must do both.
"We are confronted with enormous challenges. With these also come enormous opportunities, including the possibility for a new climate resilient, green economy. President-Elect Obama should be applauded for making climate change a priority for his administration. His address today is an important signal that his administration will vigorously re-engage in international climate negotiations and provide long overdue US leadership on global warming. We look forward to working with the President-Elect and his administration to tackle these enormous challenges."
]]>President Bush?s visit to Mississippi and Louisiana, days before the third anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, comes as a new report from Oxfam America reveals how little progress has been made and what still remains to be done to restore the region and repair the communities affected three years ago.
?If the history of the Katrina recovery were written today, it would be a tragedy. Far too little progress has been made despite the remarkable effort and ingenuity of the people of the region who are fighting to restore their homes and their lives,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. ?Much of the progress has come at the hands of Gulf Coast residents - in spite of significant hurdles placed in front of them by the federal government. The next administration must act quickly to remove those hurdles so Gulf Coast residents can truly and finally recover from the storms.?
Oxfam?s report, Mirror on America, which will be released Tuesday, reveals just how much work remains to be done, and provides recommendations to speed an equitable recovery, including:
President Bush rightly commended many who have worked hard to rebuild their homes and their lives. Unfortunately, so many have done so on their own, with less help than they could have used from the federal government.
Rebuilding the region has proved to be difficult. Many living along the Gulf Coast have been hit by a double injustice. On one hand they can?t afford the rising costs of rent, housing, insurance and utilities. On the other, they can?t find the kind of jobs they need to offset those increased expenses. It is not too late, however, for the many thousands who still need help.
?A new administration will face the challenge of correcting the mistakes of its predecessor and a critical opportunity to rebuild the Gulf Coast better and stronger,? said Rhonda Jackson, Louisiana State Policy Specialist for Oxfam America. ?The time is now to renew our promise and commit to a full Gulf Coast recovery.?
]]>Foreign aid accounts for 90 percent of public expenditure in Afghanistan, so how aid is spent has an enormous impact on the lives of almost all Afghans and will determine the success of reconstruction and development.
Matt Waldman, Afghanistan policy advisor for Oxfam International, said:
?So far, international aid to Afghanistan has not gone far enough to alleviate the poverty and suffering of the Afghan people. The amount of international aid has been wholly insufficient given the huge job of reconstruction in Afghanistan. Of the aid that has been given, too much has been driven by the priorities of the international community and its security concerns rather meeting the needs of the people and building a more effective state.
?This is a critical meeting, which will map out the direction that donors will take to rebuild Afghanistan. Too often, the country has suffered from bold promises which are soon forgotten.
?International donors meeting today must pledge more aid, but they must also make sure the money is spent better. More funds need to go through the Afghan government, whose capacity and accountability must be strengthened. Donors should agree to be open and transparent with the Afghan government on the assistance they provide and the programs they conduct. Less money should be spent on for-profit, private contracting firms and consultants. Aid needs to be more transparent and better monitored, with the emphasis being on getting help to the poorest Afghans in rural areas.?
Oxfam would like to see:
"President Bush's veto of the Farm Bill today should get Congress started on a better bill for America's farmers, taxpayers and trade interests. Unfortunately, we know that Congress passed on every single opportunity to make necessary reforms and shift funds from wasteful agricultural subsidies for large scale farms to food aid to meet the needs of the poor.
?Although important gains have been made in nutrition and equity programs, the Farm Bill continues billions of dollars in subsidies to large industrial sized farms, doing little for family farms and rural America, while hurting poor farmers abroad.
?Oxfam calls on all members of Congress to sustain the administration's veto and improve the farm bill by cutting payments to rich farmers, reforming trade distorting subsidies, doing away with the inefficiencies of the food aid programs and retaining gains made on the nutrition and equity fronts. Even in this eleventh hour, it is not too late for Congress to deliver the Farm Bill that America?and indeed the world?deserves."
]]>"President Bush's call on Congress to provide nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars in additional food aid, on top of $240 million he committed recently, is an extremely important move to avert a potential humanitarian disaster,? said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "We especially applaud the President's call for reform of the food aid system to allow for more flexibility and resources when addressing food crises. If aid agencies are allowed to purchase food regionally rather than having it shipped in from halfway around the world, more food can get to more people faster, while encouraging local food production to avert future disasters.?
While America provides half of the world's food aid, this generosity is undermined by legal restrictions and bureaucracy, as food aid must be purchased in the US and transported on US-flagged ships, according to Oxfam. As a result, food aid takes months to deliver and costs twice as much. But Congress has so far refused to seriously consider much needed reforms of our food aid policies as part of the on going consideration of the new Farm Bill.
?Given the current crisis, Congress should support President Bush's proposal to fund additional food aid and to shift some food aid resources into cash for local purchase, making food aid delivery faster and more efficient and more flexible,? said Offenheiser.
"We also applaud the President's call for the successful completion of the Doha Round of international trade negotiations and the end of trade distorting subsidies as a means of achieving this goal,? said Offenheiser. ?In this regard, more reform of US farm subsidy programs is required and should be achieved before a final farm bill is sent to the President. The current bill being debated by farm bill conferees falls far short of what is needed to provide real reform.?
]]>"With the likelihood of 100,000 or more killed in the cyclone there are all the factors for a public health catastrophe which could multiply that death toll by up to 15 times in the coming period. In the Indian Ocean tsunami 250,000 people lost their lives in the first few hours but we did not see an outbreak of disease because the host governments and the world mobilized a massive aid effort to prevent it happening. We have to do the same for the people of Myanmar," said Oxfam's Regional Director for East Asia, Sarah Ireland.
In a message to the Myanmar generals, the international community, and those governments who have influence in the region such as Thailand, Ms Ireland said, "We support a call to lift visa restrictions on international aid agencies wanting to assist disaster affected people in Myanmar. Oxfam and others need permission to work in Myanmar.ï¾ We have the skills and expertise to save lives.ï¾ We are here to help."
Citing evidence from previous experiences in disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Pakistan earthquake in 2005, Oxfam said that without an immediate injection of life-saving aid such as clean water sources, up to 1.5 million people are at immediate risk from a public health crisis.
In Myanmar people's resistance to disease is weakened daily because of lack of food and shelter, exposure to the elements, and drinking surface water that is more than likely contaminated with human and animal waste.ï¾ This creates an effective breeding ground for diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and shigella taking hold.ï¾ Both cholera and shigella is endemic in the region. With floodwaters fouling water supplies and latrines overflowing with human waste all the factors for an outbreak of cholera and shigella are in place.
With people exposed to the elements, huddled together in crowded areas and suffering from hunger other risks such as measles, chest infections, pneumonia, and diphtheria could devastate already weakened people, especially the very young.ï¾ People's natural resilience is eroded rapidly in these conditions, and the weakest, such as children and the elderly will already be in a highly vulnerable condition.
As the waters recede they become a breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes and the accompanying threats. Dengue is rife in Myanmar and mainly occurs from May to October. There were major outbreaks of dengue in 1998, 2001-2 and 2007. The incidence of malaria will also potentially increase. All the five areas worse affected by the cyclone are also regions that have high levels of malaria transmission.
The agency said that if allowed to respond to the crisis, as it has done in so many others, it will have a substantial impact on reducing the risk of disease and saving lives.
"Oxfam is concerned for the millions of men, women and children affected by the devastating cyclone in Myanmar.ï¾ We and others have decades of experience in disaster response and especially providing water and sanitation to disaster affected people.ï¾ We are certain the international humanitarian community can make a difference on the ground and that's why we want to work with the people of Myanmar affected by this terrible disaster," said Ms Ireland.
Oxfam said a tsunami-style relief effort would be required in Myanmar. At the end of 2004 the international community started to quickly mobilize thousands of international aid workers as well as massive amounts of aid and relief supplies that landed at airports in cargo planes and at remote landing strips by helicopter or arrived by sea all across the tsunami-affected region.ï¾ Even in Aceh, a province of Indonesia previously off limits to most relief agencies, aid arrived quickly and moved freely to the worst affected regions.
"Aid into Myanmar needs to be massively scaled up and it needs to happen now.ï¾ The only way this can happen is if Myanmar lifts visa restrictions and allows international agencies access to the most vulnerable people whose means to cope has been severely impaired because of the cyclone disaster," said Ms Ireland.
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