Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2022 to Question 106747 on Developing Countries: Coronavirus, what steps her Department is taking to help low-income countries to improve the capacity of their health systems to achieve their national target for vaccinating populations against covid-19.

The UK is working with COVAX, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and other partners to support low-income countries in developing sustainable approaches to managing COVID-19 and other diseases. This means integrating COVID-19 vaccination and access to tests and treatment into primary health care. We support countries to set national targets, tailored to their context and priorities.

The UK continues to support strong and resilient national health systems, including public health functions such as surveillance, community engagement and vaccine confidence, to prevent and prepare for future disease outbreaks. For example, the UK leads the partner co-ordination group in Ethiopia, where our support to the national health system includes technical assistance for COVID-19 vaccination policy and delivery planning.