Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2022 to Question 106747 on Developing Countries: Coronavirus, what steps her Department is taking to help low-income countries to improve the capacity of their health systems to achieve their national target for vaccinating populations against covid-19.
Answered by Amanda Milling
The UK is working with COVAX, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and other partners to support low-income countries in developing sustainable approaches to managing COVID-19 and other diseases. This means integrating COVID-19 vaccination and access to tests and treatment into primary health care. We support countries to set national targets, tailored to their context and priorities.
The UK continues to support strong and resilient national health systems, including public health functions such as surveillance, community engagement and vaccine confidence, to prevent and prepare for future disease outbreaks. For example, the UK leads the partner co-ordination group in Ethiopia, where our support to the national health system includes technical assistance for COVID-19 vaccination policy and delivery planning.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2022 to Question 106747 on Developing Countries: Coronavirus, what discussions took place at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda on (a) progress being made by Commonwealth countries towards vaccinating their population against covid-19 and (b) the availability of assistance from the UK's international aid budget to assist in that effort.
Answered by Vicky Ford
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Heads and Foreign Ministers had wide ranging discussions on pandemic recovery, which included vaccine coverage, economic factors, the vulnerability of small states and the need for wider health system strengthening.
During our time as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, the UK has been at the forefront of the international response to COVID-19, spending over £2.1 billion since 2020 to address its impacts. Our funding has enabled COVAX to deliver over 1.58bn vaccine doses to 146 countries and territories, including 52 Commonwealth countries. The UK has also bilaterally donated over 85m doses of COVID vaccines, including to 18 Commonwealth countries. We are keeping further support under review.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to counter the threat to the education of women and girls around the world arising from the actions of the Taliban since they took power in Afghanistan.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The UK Government has made clear its condemnation of the Taliban's decision not to re-open girls' secondary schools, including through statements from the G7+, female Foreign Ministers and the UN Security Council. Women in Afghanistan, and Afghan women in the UK diaspora, demand that girls' right to education be upheld, and we stand with them.
As the Prime Minister has said several times, we are working to hold the Taliban to account to ensure that they live up to the promises they have made. With our international partners, we continue to press the Taliban to reverse this decision. We continue to provide funding for emergency education support through the UN system, Education Cannot Wait, and the Global Partnership for Education.