Sub-saharan Africa: Health Services

(asked on 24th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what most recent assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on health systems in sub-Saharan Africa.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 2nd March 2021

COVID-19 continues to result in health systems disruptions and reduced demand for health and nutrition services globally, including in Africa. Analysis by the Africa CDC shows that over 40% of those needing health services during the pandemic missed or delayed their care, due to fear of contracting COVID-19 or reduced availability of services. Over half of countries that responded to a WHO survey reported that they had implemented policies to scale back service provision in response to COVID-19. FCDO continues to monitor the impacts of the pandemic on health and nutrition and we are working with UNICEF and other partners to strengthen data collection and analysis.

The UK's diplomacy, programmes and funding are playing a vital role in mitigating these indirect impacts of the pandemic. The UK has committed up to £1.3bn of UK Aid for the international response to the pandemic, supporting the direct response to COVID-19 and tackling the broader health, humanitarian, and socio-economic impacts. The UK has increased funding to WHO, contributing £340m in core voluntary funding over the next four years. This will help to strengthen health systems in vulnerable countries, together with our bilateral health programmes and funding to other partnerships such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

Reticulating Splines