Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support his Department is providing to strengthen health systems in low income countries to respond to the covid-19 pandemic.

The Integrated Review, published on 16 March 2021, sets out UK priorities for global health, including support to strengthen health systems around the world. Strong, resilient, and accessible health systems are essential to our aims of ending the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthening global health security, and ending preventable deaths.

COVID-19 has severely disrupted health systems. The UK has committed up to £1.3 billion towards the international response to the pandemic, supporting the direct response to COVID-19, and tackling the broader health, humanitarian, and socio-economic impacts. UK funding to the Global Fund, Gavi, and the Global Financing Facility has has helped keep essential health services running during the pandemic, as have the UK's bilateral health programme. Additionally, our core voluntary funding to World Health Organisation (WHO) of £34 million over the next four years will help to strengthen health systems in vulnerable countries.