Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to maintain the level of UK funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains committed to tackling global health challenges and will continue to work with all international partners towards the collective goal of a healthier, safer and more prosperous world. As part of this, we are proud to be co-hosting the 8th replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with South Africa and we look forward to the Gavi replenishment on 25 June. Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to maintain the level of UK funding for GAVI.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains committed to tackling global health challenges and will continue to work with all international partners towards the collective goal of a healthier, safer and more prosperous world. As part of this, we are proud to be co-hosting the 8th replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with South Africa and we look forward to the Gavi replenishment on 25 June. Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance budget will be used will be worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 help support diagnostic testing of fevers in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is a long-term supporter of Product Development Partnerships to develop novel health technologies for diseases where commercial markets fail. This support has led to the development of diagnostics for sleeping sickness, malaria, tuberculosis and COVID-19. Additionally, the UK's current £1 billion pledge to the Global Fund supports testing, treatment, and prevention initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa and strengthens health systems, helping countries prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics. Programmes supported by the Global Fund performed 335 million malaria tests in 2023. Through our £1.65 billion investment in Gavi, the vaccine alliance from 2021-25, the UK is supporting the vaccination of 300 million children, and the procurement and distribution of yellow fever and cholera diagnostic tests. Finally, our £95 million Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa programme (TDDAP) is strengthening national public health surveillance and laboratory systems to better detect and respond to public health threats and outbreaks in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and DRC.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to support efforts to tackle (a) malaria and (b) other diseases of poverty globally.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a leading donor to the fight against Malaria. Our £1 billion pledge (2023-2025) to the Global Fund will support distributing 86 million treated mosquito nets, provide 452,000 doses of seasonal malaria chemoprevention and provide malaria treatment for 18 million people. The UK's £1.65 billion funding (2021-2025) to Gavi is helping to fund the rollout of malaria vaccines in up to 25 countries by the end of 2025. This is complemented by investments to support research and development and to improve access to key malaria products and support to the World Health Organisation and others to strengthen health systems. Additionally, our £1 billion funding to the Global Fund is expected to provide antiretroviral therapy for 1.8 million people and provide Tuberculosis treatment and care for 1.1 million people. Our £1.65 billion funding to Gavi will support immunisation of 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 potential impact of the UK’s contribution to the Global Fund on lives saved from (a) malaria, (b) tuberculosis and (c) HIV/AIDS.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Global Fund is a high performing partnership that has saved 65 million lives and reduced combined deaths across HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria by 63 per cent since 2002. The UK is a founding member and committed partner of the Global Fund, investing over £5.5 billion to date. Our current £1bn pledge to the 7th replenishment (2023-25) is expected to save approximately 1.3 million lives and avert 28 million new infections across the three diseases. Amongst other things, this funding is expected to provide antiretroviral therapy for 1.8 million people, provide TB treatment and care for 1.1 million people and distribute 86 million mosquito nets to protect children and families from malaria.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 potential impact of (a) replenishments and (b) pledges to (i) the Global Fund and (ii) GAVI on the UK's international reputation.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We have committed £1.65 billion to the current strategic period covering 2021-2025. The UK is working to ensure a successful replenishment of Gavi and the Global Fund through our diplomatic and development network. The UK has been clear about the reasons for the difficult decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent by 2027. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Sojan Joseph (Labour - Ashford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with international counterparts on tackling the global TB epidemic in preparation for the World Health Assembly in May 2025.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a leading donor in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) and engages closely with international partners to tackle the disease. Our £1 billion commitment to the Global Fund (2023 to 2025) will provide TB treatment and care for 1.1 million people, screen 20 million people for TB and provide 41,800 people with treatment for multidrug-resistant TB. This is complemented by our investment in Unitaid to improve access to key TB products, and support to World Health Organisation (WHO) and others to strengthen health systems.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of protecting funding for global health multilaterals, in the context of changes to levels of Official Development Assistance funding.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is one of the largest donors to global health multilaterals delivering significant impact. Our £1.65bn funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Allice (2021-2025) is supporting the vaccination of 300 million children and our £1bn funding to the Global Fund for Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (2023 - 2025) is expected to save 1.276 million lives and avert 28.25 million new infections. UK support to the World Health Organization, will enable WHO to prioritise activities that will help save over 40 million lives, improve the health of over 6 billion people, and protect an additional 7 billion people from health emergencies. This investment, alongside other international partners' support, will enable the WHO to prioritise activities that will help save over 40 million lives, improve the health of over 6 billion people, and protect an additional 7 billion people from health emergencies. Following the decision to reduce UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 0.5 per cent of GNI to 0.3 per cent by 2027 we are taking a rigorous approach to ensure all ODA delivers value for money. Announcements on individual investments will be made following the completion of the Spending Review process.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of repatriating patients with antimicrobial resistance from conflict zones on (a) UK citizens and (b) the NHS.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises conflict as a major driver of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), posing significant risks to populations in fragile and conflict-affected states, the wider global community, and the United Kingdom. In response, the Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to raise global awareness and understanding of this growing threat. The Government does not routinely repatriate patients from conflict zones, and where these have taken place, it has been under exceptional circumstances, or at the individual's expense to reduce avoidable burdens on UK taxpayers.
Evidence indicates that inward migration from countries with a high prevalence of AMR is likely contributing to the rising AMR burden in the UK, which includes the risk of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB). To address this risk, there is a UK pre-entry screening programme for migrants coming for more than six months from countries with high incidence of TB. This will include countries with high incidence of MDR disease. Further information on the evidence is available at the following link:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6032478/
The UK Health Security Agency does not currently undertake routine surveillance of AMR specifically in patients repatriated from conflict zones, but remains committed to strengthening surveillance of drug-resistant infections more broadly regardless of source, to ensure early detection and to enable a rapid response to emerging threats
The National Health Service is a residency-based system, which means that people who do not live here on a lawful, settled basis must contribute to the cost of their care. However, some of the most vulnerable people arriving in the UK, including refugees and some asylum seekers, do not pay for NHS treatment.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of proposed reductions to Official Development Assistance on tuberculosis (a) screening, (b) diagnosis and (c) treatment.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Decisions on how the Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget will be used are being worked through as part of the ongoing Spending Review, based on various factors including impact assessments.
We plan to publish final 2025/26 ODA programme allocations in the FCDO Annual Report & Accounts this summer.
The UK has played a significant role with international counterparts to tackle tuberculosis (TB) in recent decades.
Since 2002, Tuberculosis deaths have been reduced by 36 per cent in countries where the Global Fund invests. The UK is a leading donor to the Global Fund and will this year co-host the 8th replenishment of the Global Fund together with South Africa.