Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to promote the use of smart syringes through the UK's aid programmes.

The UK actively promotes the use of ‘smart’ or safe syringes in the global immunisation programmes that the UK supports. These programmes are principally Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The UK is providing approximately £1.3 billion to Gavi from 2011 to 2015 (which will immunise over 70 million children) and £300 million for polio eradication from 2013 to 2018 (which will include the global roll out of the injectable Inactivated Polio Virus).

The UK supports both Gavi and GPEI in implementing the World Health Organisation (WHO) policy regarding the use of safe auto-disabled syringes, alongside safe boxes for their disposal. The UK also encourages Gavi and GPEI to introduce new technologies such as ‘smart’ syringes where they are cost-effective and WHO-approved.