Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support his Department is providing to governments in Africa to ensure they have access to an adequate supply of oxygen to help tackle covid-19.

The UK is one of the largest donors to the international pandemic response. We have committed up to £1.3 billion of UK aid to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to help end the pandemic as quickly as possible. We are one of the major funders of the Access to COVID-19 Tools or ACT Accelerator, which is a global collaboration mobilising technical and financial support to increase equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines, including oxygen. FCDO is also supporting regional bodies like Africa Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Regional Office that are directly working with the governments on oxygen supplies in African countries.

For example, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the UK has provided nearly £15 million support to the COVID-19 response that includes supporting the health facilities in Kinshasa. We provided 80 oxygen concentrators in the city and supported the installation of solar energy in five health facilities to ensure a reliable and green electricity supply for these oxygen concentrators.