Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what aid-based support he has provided to Nepal in their response to the covid-19 pandemic.
In response to an urgent request for medical supplies from the Government of Nepal, Her Majesty's Government (HMG) donated 260 ventilators and various pieces of personal protective equipment which arrived in Nepal on 28 May. The same flight carried two HMG-funded health experts to assess the situation and support Nepal's COVID-19 response. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the British Embassy in Kathmandu has reprioritised over £40 million of its development budget including: the construction of an oxygen plant in a Kathmandu hospital; technical advice to local government on managing the impact of COVID-19; water, sanitation and hygiene facilities to support around 300,000 people; safe spaces for women in isolation centres; cash and voucher assistance for the most vulnerable; and nutrition support for pregnant and lactating women. The UK is also a leading donor to COVAX, having committed £548 million to the scheme. COVAX has allocated 2,000,000 vaccine doses to Nepal so far, of which 348,000 have already been delivered.