Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that services to help prevent maternal, new-born and child deaths that may be under pressure as a result of covid-19 are protected.

The UK government’s commitment to end the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030 is more essential now than ever given the COVID-19 outbreak. DFID is stepping up efforts to ensure sexual, reproductive, maternal and new-born health services continue to be prioritised in our response to the pandemic, to stop mothers and babies dying unnecessarily.

Globally we are working with agencies such as the World Health Organisation, UNFPA, the Partnership for Maternal New-born and Child Health and the Global Financing Facility (GFF) to support governments to maintain health systems in affected countries, provide technical guidance and advocate for sustained reproductive, maternal, new-born and child health services. This may include filling essential supply chain gaps and supporting frontline health workers. The UK supported the GFF Investors Group press release last week that called for strong, collective action to avoid a potential secondary health crisis from disruptions in health services from COVID-19.

The UK has committed £1.65 billion, the equivalent of £330 million per year, to support Gavi’s goal to immunise a further 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives. The UK is hosting the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June, which will bring countries together to raise the funds required to save millions. The Gavi replenishment period is vital to raise at least $7.4 billion to fund Gavi’s investment case for its next five years of work (2021-2025).