Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to increase access to medicines in developing countries; and if he will make a statement.

Improving access to medicines is a critical part of our contribution in developing countries. The FCDO works with partners across the value chain to make products more affordable, and improve country level procurement and distribution. We are a leading donor to Unitaid's Medicines Patent Pool, which promotes patent sharing and licensing. We also fund the Access to Medicine Index, which monitors company performance on providing greater access to medicines.

The UK is one of the largest government contributors to global efforts to develop COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. This includes up to £500 million to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment which is supporting 92 developing countries to gain access to a COVID-19 vaccine, when one becomes available.