Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to data published by UNICEF in April 2021 reporting that diarrhoeal diseases cause 18 per cent of all deaths of children under the age of 5 in Nigeria, what steps she is taking to support the funding of research and development into diarrhoeal disease.

As rightly highlighted by UNICEF, diarrhoea is one of the leading causes of death among children under five years in Nigeria as well as across the globe. Diarrhoeal disease in children is also a leading cause of malnutrition in children. This is particularly tragic as a significant proportion of these cases are preventable. FCDO recently published an approach paper on ending the preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children which highlights the importance of research and development of novel health technologies including for diarrhoeal disease.

FCDO works with product development public-private partnerships, which develop novel health technologies, such as medicines and vaccines where commercial markets fail. This includes support to PATH, an organisation which is developing medicines, diagnostics and vaccines for diarrheal disease. With UK Aid help, PATH have developed two new vaccines for rotavirus (which causes diarrheal disease) suitable for use in low-income countries.