United Nations: Sustainable Development

(asked on 12th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) promote cooperation between and (b) draw on the expertise of NHS and other clinical and academic expertise on global health issues in pursuit of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.


Answered by
Nigel Adams Portrait
Nigel Adams
This question was answered on 17th March 2021

The UK is a leader in global health and the NHS is a key part of our international offer, as one of the first Universal Health Coverage initiatives in the world. The UK draws on the full breadth of expertise in the UK health sector to help strengthen health systems in partner countries, to end preventable deaths and to respond to COVID-19.

In response to the pandemic, the UK has offered its world leading genomics expertise to countries around the world through a New Variant Assessment Platform, led by Public Health England, to identify new variants of the COVID-19 virus. In terms of broader global health security, the UK also works through the Department of Health and Social Care's (DHSC's) International Health Regulations Strengthening Project and the UK Public Health Rapid Support team, to support partner countries to better prevent, detect and respond to public health emergencies. The UK's clinical and academic expertise is a key part of these efforts. DHSC's Commonwealth Partnership for Antimicrobial Stewardship programme has also created partnerships between NHS volunteers and their counterparts in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, to work to address antimicrobial resistance.

We are also drawing on NHS expertise to strengthen health systems through the FCDO's Global Better Health Programme, working with the NHS and Healthcare UK on non-communicable diseases in South East Asia, Latin America and South Africa. In addition, the UK Partnerships for Health Systems programme funds health partnerships between UK NHS and health institutions and their counterparts in lower and middle income countries to improve health workforce and service performance.

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