Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of steps his Department is taking to help reduce global (a) spread of lethal disease and (b) infant mortality among individuals who lack access to adequate toilet facilities.

The UK Government is committed to improving global health and ending the preventable deaths of children, newborns and mothers. The lack of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is still a major driver of children's illness and mortality. The Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition provided 14,800 health facilities with critical WASH supplies and services over the last three years. We support sanitation in schools in Mozambique and Ethiopia, and our new £18.5 million WASH Systems for Health programme will support governments to develop stronger systems critical to delivering sustainable and climate resilient WASH services - an important part of reducing the spread of disease and reducing infant mortality.