Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Foreign Commonwealth and Development on the steps required to help ensure equitable global access to (a) vaccines and (b) antivirals which have been effective against Mpox.

The United Kingdom is the largest flexible donor to the World Health Organisation (WHO) globally, helping the WHO allocate resources to where they are needed most, including responding to health emergencies such as Mpox. We are also providing £3 million to the WHO Regional Office for Africa, for health emergency response.

The UK is also the second biggest donor to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, providing £1.65 billion over the 2021 to 2025 period. Gavi works with governments to develop vaccine strategies, and will be critical to supporting a sustainable vaccine response. The UK also works with partners, such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, to support research and development for vaccines, treatments, and tests.

On the 21 August 2024 Lord Collins, The Minister for Africa and the United Nations, announced over £3 million of UK funding to partner with UNICEF in order to bolster efforts to tackle Mpox and cholera outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, helping to prevent the further spread of Mpox to neighbouring countries