Health and Education

To end poverty, free quality health care and education services are vital. It's a vicious circle: education massively improves girls' and boys' chances of escaping poverty – and poverty is the main reason they miss school. Meanwhile, high health care fees and too few hospitals and clinics make poverty worse, as illness affects people's ability to work.

What is Oxfam doing to help?

  • Jessy and Isaac are two students from Malawi who are visiting the UK to talk about their personal experiences of climate change as well as education, youth participation and leadership.

    We help people build and equip schools

    From bricks and mortar to books and management, helping schools get started is one of the first steps in ending poverty. Oxfam trains teachers, helps lobby local governments to get more children into school, and encourages communities to get girls into education.

  • The corridor of a small health clinic in Plavi, Georgia.

    We work to improve standards of health care

    Low-cost clinics mean people can get the treatment they need, even in remote communities; while campaigning can bring free healthcare to mothers and children.

  • A student in a school in Ghana draws a solar panel on a whiteboard.

    We campaign for health and education for all

    We campaign internationally to make cheaper and better medicines available in developing countries. We also work with community leaders to lobby local governments to invest more in vital health services.

The impact of our work

Promoting health and education: what we've achieved

I am happy to provide support for my community... spreading the message of how to fight against Coronavirus.”

Zahid works with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh