Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential link between the level of UK aid spending between 2020 and 2021 on the spread of antimicrobial resistance and the risk of drug-resistant infections in refugee camps in low and middle-income countries.
Answered by John Glen
In 2021, the UK was the third largest development donor in the G7 as a percentage of GNI, spending over £11 billion on aid. The UK is committed to the global eradication of antimicrobial resistance and supports a wide range of activities to do this.
Through our £265m ODA Fleming Fund, the UK builds partnerships with LMICs to strengthen AMR surveillance, diagnostics and laboratory capacity. The Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), another UK aid fund, supports early-stage innovative research in underfunded areas of AMR research and development for the benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries.
We have also used our aid budget to reduce the risks of antimicrobial resistance by helping prevent the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. Between April 2020 and December 2021, in partnership with Unilever the UK reached over 4 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) with handwashing messages to prevent the spread of infection in countries such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, Syria, South Sudan and Yemen. The UK also supports the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration and the Red Cross Movement, each of which include work on water, sanitation and hygiene as part of their programming and support displaced persons, including refugees and migrants in camps.