India Covid-19 Appeal

India is in the grip of a second deadly coronavirus wave. People desperate for medical care are struggling to pay for oxygen and medication. Oxfam is there helping to keep people safe and get urgent medical supplies to hospitals.

Story

SURVIVE TODAY - WITH PPE AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT: Oxfam is working with the government to distribute Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline health workers. We are also helping to fund oxygen cylinders and other equipment for hospitals and health centres.

PREPARE FOR TOMORROW - FOOD OUTREACH AND CASH FOR ESSENTIALS : Provide food, hygiene kits and handwashing facilities to the poorest and most vulnerable communities. We are also making direct cash transfers to the most vulnerable households so they can buy what they need.

ACT TO PROTECT - MAKE SURE THE COVID-19 VACCINES ARE AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE FOR FREE: We are engaging with governments and pharmaceutical companies to remove the barriers to increasing vaccine production and ensure access for everyone. Because no one is safe until we are all safe. #PeoplesVaccine

Updates

25th May: Today we're loading 1 million face masks and 15 Oxygen concentrators that will then be airfreighted to Kolkata, India.

25th May: Pankaj Anand of Oxfam India reports on a delivery of supplies to a government hospital in Delhi.

15th May: A worker unloads bags of PPE kits at the Guru Teg Bahadur hospital in Shadara, New Delhi. IMAGE: Vaibhav Raghunandan/Oxfam India

13th May: Oxfam office in Kolkata stocked up with boxes containing oxygen concentrators and PPE kits. Thank you SO much again for all your incredible fundraising - you are making this response possible. IMAGE: Oxfam India.

12 th May: Oxfam staff Nikhil Wagh and Parmeshwar Patil carrying an oxygen concentrator during delivery to Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital. IMAGE: Oxfam India.

10th May: Oxfam India's response is continuing. This includes handing over 425 PPE kits and 1500 safety kits (including gloves, masks and sanitizers) to the Morigaon Civil Hospital, Assam. More response updates can be seen via Oxfam India's Twitter and Instagram feeds. Thank you SO much for your support so far making it possible.

7th May: We have launched a petition to ask the UK government to support a patent free vaccine. If the vaccine science was shared freely, qualified manufacturers around the world could produce Covid vaccines at the scale urgently needed. Read more and sign the petition here.

6th May: An update from our colleague Savvy at Oxfam India.

4th May: Update from Amitabh Behar, CEO of Oxfam India:

3rd May: Oxfam India have reached 180 families of marginal farmers and daily wage workers in Jorhat and Morigaon in Assam. We have provided dry ration and safety & hygiene kits. IMAGES: Oxfam India.

1st May: PPE kits, safety and hygiene kits delivered to a COVID-19 hospital in Patna, Bihar state. IMAGE: Neha Rani Verma/Oxfam

30th April: Selfie from Nikhil Wagh, Humanitarian Project Coordinator for Oxfam India. Nikhill is on the ground in the Maharashtra State, where he is distributing PPE. Items include masks, sanitizer, safety googles and full PPE Kits. Nikhil has already visited Beed, Nanded and Latur where a total of 1500 masks, 450 Sanitizers, 375 goggles and 60 PPE Kits have been delivered.

The reason for the distribution of PPE kits is that the Corona epidemic situation in Maharashtra is very bad at present and the lives of some of the staff serving the patients are in danger.