Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Baroness Watkins of Tavistock Excerpts

Tuesday 16th July 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Watkins of Tavistock (CB)]

The WHO has made it absolutely plain that one of the biggest health security risks across the world is a lack of qualified healthcare workers. As we see the potential for this disease to become no longer isolated to specific African countries, how is DfID working with our own Department of Health to ensure that we train more healthcare workers here and reduce our reliance on those from abroad when they are so desperately needed in other parts of the world? Perhaps the Minister can answer this question.

[Baroness Stedman-Scott]

Obviously, health security is critical. I can assure the noble Baroness that the Secretary of State, when he was in Geneva last week, made this a key part of his contribution to the wider audience. I can only agree, as can DfID and the whole Government, that the point she makes about training healthcare workers locally is the one we must follow.