Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the proportion of the Department for International Development funding for mental health in low- and middle-income countries has increased or decreased in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Tracking of inputs, allocations and expenditure is based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) codes, which are used for reporting official development assistance.
The UK’s health focus in developing countries is on improving the provision of basic health services for the poor by strengthening and supporting health systems, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines. Increasing coverage, equity, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including non-communicable diseases, like mental disorders and dementia.
DFID is helping countries to make fairer, transparent and evidence-based decisions about how to set priorities and allocate resources in health. We support research on mental health through our PRIME (Programme for Improving Mental Health Care) programme. This research is providing world class evidence on implementation and scaling up for treatment programmes and having this adopted by policy makers.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Department for International Development spent on mental health in low- and middle-income countries in 2015.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Tracking of inputs, allocations and expenditure is based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC) codes, which are used for reporting official development assistance.
The UK’s health focus in developing countries is on improving the provision of basic health services for the poor by strengthening and supporting health systems, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines. Increasing coverage, equity, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including non-communicable diseases, like mental disorders and dementia.
DFID is helping countries to make fairer, transparent and evidence-based decisions about how to set priorities and allocate resources in health. We support research on mental health through our PRIME (Programme for Improving Mental Health Care) programme. This research is providing world class evidence on implementation and scaling up for treatment programmes and having this adopted by policy makers.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department for International Development will value mental health equally with physical health in its funding decisions.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK has lobbied hard to make sure the Global Goals cover the areas not covered by the Millennium Development Goals, to make sure nobody is left behind, including in health, which is a significant step forward. DFID’s principal approach to supporting the Global Goal for health is to strengthen health services, improving coverage, access and quality so that services better address all major causes of ill health including mental health. The UK has played a key role in creating a set of goals that are universal and inclusive and focused on ending chronic poverty forever, for everyone, everywhere. The UK has been a strong and consistent supporter of the need to achieve Universal Health Coverage.
We also support research, together with specific work on mental health. For example, in Ghana, addressing mental health is a specific focus within DFID’s health sector support programme as well as under the Health Partnership Scheme, DFID is helping to establish a community-based programme of mental health care in Malawi to improve care of people with common and severe mental health illnesses. DFID is also providing support for mental health services for Syrian refugees, including those traumatised by the conflict.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in the light of the recent inclusion of mental health targets under Sustainable Development Goal 3, whether the Department for International Development plans to review its strategy for funding mental health in low- and middle-income countries.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK’s health focus in developing countries is on improving the provision of basic health services for the poor by supporting and strengthening health systems, health worker capacity and access to essential medicines. Increasing coverage, equity, access and quality will strengthen health services to address all health problems including non-communicable diseases, like mental disorders and dementia.
The Global Goals are a major landmark in our fight against poverty. The UK has lobbied hard to make sure the Global Goals cover the areas not covered by the Millennium Development Goals, to make sure nobody is left behind including those most marginalized. DFID’s principal approach to supporting the Global Goal for health is to strengthen health services, improving coverage, access and quality so that services better address all major causes of ill health including mental health. The UK has played a key role in creating a set of goals that are universal and inclusive and focused on ending chronic poverty forever, for everyone, everywhere. The UK has been a strong and consistent supporter of the need to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the potential contribution of British scientists and institutions to the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Effective disaster risk reduction management is critical to sustainable development.
Science has a key role to play in helping us to better understand disaster risks and developing more robust DRR approaches. It can help us to better predict and respond to a range of natural hazards such as floods and storms, droughts, extreme temperatures, health epidemics and pandemics.
The new framework will help encourage greater engagement from and with the scientific community in order to reduce disaster risk and build resilience. British scientists already play a significant role in helping the UK prepare for and respond to disasters. While we expect British scientists and institutions to play an important role, we are still assessing the full implications of the Sendai Framework.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support low- and middle-income countries to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030.
Answered by Baroness Verma
We remain committed to supporting the most vulnerable countries and communities to better withstand and recover from the impact of disasters. However, we are still assessing the full implications of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 for DFID programmes.
The Sendai Framework is one of many guides which we can draw on to help shape our approach to safeguarding development gains from the impact of disasters. DFID is already supporting developing countries to help them reduce risk and build resilience, through its support to multilaterals and through country programmes.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to assist countries that receive United Kingdom development support in addressing non-communicable diseases.
Answered by Baroness Verma
In countries in which DFID provides health assistance, we aim to improve the provision of basic health services for the poorest so that these countries are better able to address a broad range of health problems including non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We do this through strengthening health systems, improving health worker capacity and increasing access to essential medicines and equipment. With this focus on strengthening health services, developing countries will be better equipped to address a broad range of health problems including non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
We are also supporting specific efforts in developing countries to reduce the prevalence of NCDs, for example: