Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of (1) the response of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) the Fund’s role in future pandemic preparedness.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Global Fund is a high performing organisation that, with partners, has saved 44 million lives to date. The UK is proud to be the organisation's third largest donor historically, investing £4.1 billion since 2002. The Global Fund responded quickly and effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic by establishing the COVID-19 Response Mechanism. This mechanism has raised over $4.3 billion to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on programs to fight HIV, TB and malaria, and work with national response plans to support urgent improvements in health and community systems. The UK allocated an additional £60 million to the mechanism this year to support diagnostic and oxygen supplies. As an active member of the Board, the UK is supporting the Global Fund to define its evolving role on Pandemic Preparedness and Response within its new 2023-2028 strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what their strategic priorities are in relation to malaria, following the publication of the International Development Strategy.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in the International Development Strategy and our global health position papers, global health is a priority for UK development policy and programming. Within this we will particularly focus on strengthening health systems and ending the preventable deaths of women, newborns, and children. Tackling malaria is closely linked with the UK's ambition on ending preventable deaths, as the disease predominantly impacts pregnant women and children under 5. Our focus on health systems strengthening is key to sustainably tackling malaria and other diseases. Our health programming and investments on these themes will continue to account for malaria's disproportionate impact on these demographs.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of the resurgence of malaria over the next three years in relation to health system strengthening, following the publication of the International Development Strategy.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In 2020, there was the first significant increase in malaria cases and deaths in two decades and we recognise the risk of further resurgence of malaria. Health systems strengthening is critical to reducing this risk. As set out in the International Development Strategy, global health is a priority for UK development policy and programming and within this we will particularly focus on strengthening health systems to improve the resilience of health systems to shocks such as pandemics and to ensure continued progress on malaria and other diseases.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their programmes to prevent malaria in pregnancy, following the publication of the International Development Strategy.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in the International Development Strategy and our global health position papers, global health is a priority for UK development policy and programming. Within this we will particularly focus on strengthening health systems and ending the preventable deaths of mothers, newborns, and children. Our bilateral health programmes will take consideration of malaria's disproportionate impact on pregnant women and children under five as a key driver of preventable deaths, and will strengthen health systems to deliver quality malaria prevention and treatment. Our investment in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria also delivers large scale malaria interventions for pregnant women and children.
We also fund research on combatting malaria, including for mothers, babies and children. For instance, our funding to the Medicines for Malaria Venture supports their Malaria in Mothers and Babies strategy, which aims to scale up the availability of preventive malaria treatment in pregnancy and generate evidence on the use of existing antimalarials throughout pregnancy.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the publication of The UK government’s strategy for international development, what assessment they have made of the UK’s bilateral programmes to tackle malaria.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In line with the Health Systems Strengthening and Ending Preventable Deaths (EPD) papers, published last year, future bilateral health programmes will focus holistically on strengthening health systems as the bedrock of sustained improvements to health and well-being worldwide. Our bilateral programmes on EPD will take consideration of the disproportionate impact that malaria has on pregnant women and children under five as a key driver of preventable deaths, as noted in our position paper.
Our current direct investments in malaria services are primarily through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Global Fund provides over half of international funding for malaria and is an essential partner of the UK in the shared fight against HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria, as well as in strengthening health systems and supporting pandemic preparedness. The UK is a co-founder of the Fund and long-term contributor, having provided £4.1 billion in funding to date.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the publication of The UK government’s strategy for international development, what assessment they have made of the case for additional investment in surveillance for malaria and other diseases.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Surveillance is an important aspect of efforts to control malaria and other diseases. UK investments support low and middle-income countries to strengthen their routine disease surveillance systems.
Multilateral investments on routine disease surveillance include the work of the World Bank, the World Health Organisation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDs, Tuberculosis and Malaria. On malaria specifically, we have supported the Global Fund's Regional Artemisinin-resistance Initiative in response to the emergence of drug-resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong region.
Bilateral programming on disease surveillance includes the Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme, the International Health Strengthening Programme and the Fleming Fund.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the UK–EU Joint Consultative Working Group has met; and when it will next meet.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The meetings of the Joint Consultative Working Group (JCWG) are confidential; however, Article 15(5) of the Northern Ireland Protocol provides that it shall meet at least once a month, unless otherwise decided by the EU and the UK by mutual consent.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment have they made of the work of the UK–EU Joint Consultative Working Group.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Joint Consultative Working Group is established by the Northern Ireland Protocol as part of the governance arrangements for the Protocol, though it is not empowered to take any decisions other than to adopt its own rules of procedure. The Government is clear that as those broader governance arrangements do not include any structures for UK or NI representatives to have a say in EU rules, a democratic deficit has been created whereby rules are made and imposed on Northern Ireland with no say in the matter.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will introduce legislation to make supply chain human rights due diligence mandatory.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government has consistently supported the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) on business and human rights, which are widely regarded as the authoritative international framework to steer practical action by governments and businesses worldwide on this important agenda, and encourage businesses to voluntarily adopt due diligence approaches to respecting human right. We continue to keep our policy under review. The new Modern Slavery Strategy is due to be published shortly and will set the direction of our modern slavery and global supply chains work for the years to come.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how funding for the Global Fund’s seventh replenishment will advance the priorities of their international development strategy.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The new International Development Strategy (IDS) highlights that global health will remain a top priority. We will continue to deliver our health commitments on COVID-19; building strong health systems; promoting a One Health approach; and working towards ending preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children, including through Gavi and the Global Fund. Our support to the Global Fund to address the HIV burden in adolescent girls and young women, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, also contributes to the IDS priority on empowering women and girls. The UK pledged £1.4 billion to the Global Fund's 6th replenishment (2020-2022), making us the 2nd largest donor. We are reviewing the Global Fund's investment case for the 7th replenishment and deciding our precise contribution in line with delivering the new International Development Strategy. The Global Fund will continue to be a key partner for the UK in the shared fight against HIV, TB and malaria.