Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help international counterparts tackle gynaecological disease.

The UK Government acknowledges the severe morbidity women face from gynaecological conditions and the distress these conditions can cause. In 2021, we launched our Ending Preventable Deaths for mothers, babies and children approach. This centres the importance of working with our international counterparts to strengthen health systems and progress sexual and reproductive health and rights, both of which are hugely important to tackle gynaecological disease. Our programmes in this area include support for the rollout of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer through the global vaccine alliance (GAVI); and through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UK is supporting the procurement and delivery of reproductive health commodities such as hormonal contraceptives, which are also used to treat gynaecological diseases.