Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support British expertise in water, sanitation and hygiene and public health to prevent infections and reduce the need for, overuse of, and misuse of antimicrobials in the world's least developed countries as part of the five year action plan on Tackling Microbial Resistance.

In 2019 the ‘UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2019 to 2024’ was published which committed to reducing the need for and unintentional exposure to antimicrobials; optimise the use of antimicrobials; and invest in innovation, supply and access to antimicrobials. The United Kingdom has used this expertise to assist the development of health systems internationally to improve infection prevention and control. The Department for Health and Social Care’s Fleming Fund has funded the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship Scheme empowers pharmacists in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to participate in improving sanitation in healthcare settings.

In addition, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is investing UK Aid Direct in water, sanitation and hygiene programmes in LMICs to prevent infection, control its spread and reduce the need for antimicrobials. Between 2016 and 2020, this funding supported 62.6 million people to gain access to clean water and/or sanitation.