Covid-19: International Response

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Monday 18th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, my thanks, like those of the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, go to all those workers—in the United Kingdom and across the world—who are on the front line during this pandemic.

While the priority must be to tackle the health emergency caused by Covid-19, our short-term response needs to be global and to anticipate the longer-term consequences around the world. Global health efforts to achieve the SDGs and other health targets on, for example, HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria have been shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, warned. For pandemic responses to be effective, they must place communities and civil society at the centre, uphold and promote human rights, and, as the Minister said, seek to put the furthest behind first.

I welcome the United Kingdom being at the forefront of the search for a vaccine and the development of effective Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, but steps must be taken to ensure that the NHS and patients worldwide can benefit. In Oral Questions this afternoon, the Minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to the WHO access to Covid-19 tools accelerator. Last week, I met the UNITAID executive director, who explained how it had rapidly leveraged its expertise and portfolio and joined the accelerator. It is really important that we continue these global efforts.

As we have heard, the majority of Covid research and development is publicly funded. However, the Government have not set out their plans on how equitable access will be achieved. As the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, asked, will the Government go beyond the rhetoric on equitable access and examine legally binding public-interest conditions on all UK funding? What assessment has the UK has made of the Costa Rican proposal for the WHO to create a global pool of rights in technologies for the detection, prevention, control and treatment of Covid-19?

The UK’s Gavi pledge and its call on others to do likewise at the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June is welcome, but, as the Minister reminded us, challenges remain. Global immunisation rates are stalling, and 19.4 million children—78% of whom live in Gavi-supported countries—still miss out on basic vaccines. How will the Government work with Gavi to ensure that its next strategic period includes efforts to improve access to affordable vaccines and ensure sustainable transition from Gavi support?

We know that good nutrition is needed for vaccines to be effective. The Global Nutrition Report published last week against the backdrop of Covid-19 highlighted that progress on nutrition is too slow. For many, the threat of hunger and malnutrition is far greater than the virus itself. The executive director of the World Food Programme recently told the Security Council that Covid-19 would cause a famine of “biblical proportions”. Wendy Morton told the Commons that every percentage point contraction in global GDP from Covid-19 will lead to an additional 4 million stunted children. Anne-Marie Trevelyan said last week that the UK continued to work closely with Japan to ensure that the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit secures new commitments to nutrition. Does the Minister agree that to pledge early will encourage others to do likewise?

As the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, said, Imperial College recently reported that if, as a global community, we are able to maintain

“the most critical prevention activities and healthcare services for HIV”

and TB, we can minimise the impact of the Covid epidemic. What assessment have the Government made of the impact on the HIV response of Covid-19 and the international Covid-19 response? For example, what steps are the Government taking to protect marginalised and criminalised populations at this time of heightened risk?

At the end of 2018, 70.8 million people had been forcibly displaced from their homes by violence, conflict and persecution—a number that likely increased in 2019. Covid cases being reported last week in areas such as Cox’s Bazar are a warning. NGOs there are working hard to increase access to handwashing and hygiene kits in really incredible circumstances.

What has DfID done at this week’s World Health Assembly to put WASH, in particular, at the centre of the global response to and investment in Covid-19? A global network of community-based responses that respond to and reflect local needs is our best chance of ensuring that men, women, boys and girls in vulnerable settings are able to access the information, services and assistance they need.

My noble friend Lord McConnell made the point very strongly about education in the global response. The UK has committed £5 million to the Education Cannot Wait fund, but at present, only DfID and the LEGO Foundation have made pledges to ECW in response to Covid-19. What steps is the Minister taking to encourage other donors and Governments to make further financial commitments to Education Cannot Wait?

The UN Secretary-General has recognised the impact of Covid-19 on older persons by stressing that they have the same rights to life and health as everyone else. The UK signed a statement of support for his policy briefing on older people. Can the Minister tell us how the UK is putting this commitment into action?

Finally, the UK must lead the global efforts for debt relief and supporting ceasefire initiatives. Can the Minister explain how the Government are encouraging international institutions to do this, and particularly, as a member of the P5, how is the United Kingdom supporting the UN Security Council’s global ceasefire resolution?

The IMF and the G20 have taken important steps on debt relief. However, the Jubilee Debt Campaign estimates that bonds and other private external debt payments for 77 of the poorest countries will total at least $9.4 billion from May 2020 to December 2020. Is the UK exploring legislative options to protect countries from being burdened by private debt?

As this debate has highlighted, coronavirus is not only a health emergency but an economic and social one. As I have mentioned, we have already seen large-scale food insecurity, increases in deaths due to other health problems such as HIV and malaria, and clampdowns on human rights. Is the Minister satisfied that DfID has properly assessed the risks of “pivoting resources towards Covid-19”, as the Secretary of State put it, as a failure to do so risks a spike in other serious health, social and economic emergencies?