Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what information her Department holds on how the World Health Organisation plans to spend funding granted to that organisation by the UK Government in the next 12 months.

The Government provides funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) through a number of specific health programmes and through core funding. In the next 12 months, our core funding will support WHO deliver its 13^th General Programme of Work that seeks to protect 1 billion people from health emergencies, provide 1 billion more people with access to universal health coverage, and enable 1 billion more people to live healthier lives. Our health programme support addresses specific UK priorities within the 13^th General Programme of Work, for example, health systems strengthening, global health security and work to end the preventable deaths of mothers, children and new-borns.

The UK is the second largest Member State funder to WHO overall; this amount varies year upon year based on need – this was around 10% of WHO’s income over the last two years. The UK’s contribution to WHO for COVID-19 response is world-leading and will likely significantly increase UK’s share.