Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what additional humanitarian support her Department is providing to (a) the elderly, (b) women and girls and (c) refugees and internally displaced people in countries affected by covid-19 that (i) have weak public health systems and (ii) are affected by conflict.

The UK is at the forefront of the international response to COVID-19, our £744 million commitment to tackling this pandemic makes us one of the largest donors globally.

The weakness of developing countries’ healthcare systems is one of the principal risks to the global spread of the virus. Countries experiencing conflict and humanitarian crises are those least able to cope. Vulnerable groups – including the elderly, people with disabilities, women and girls and displaced people – are particularly at risk.

We are already strengthening fragile health services in the world’s poorest countries by ensuring that our aid targets those who are most vulnerable, based on their needs. This includes supporting countries to integrate the needs of refugees and Internally Displaced People in their response to the crisis.

We are funding the UN’s Population Fund to support the most vulnerable women and girls and the International Committee of the Red -Cross to reach people in the most fragile regions of the world. UK aid is, for example, helping to install new hand-washing stations, isolation and treatment centres in refugee camps as well as increase access to clean water for those living in areas of armed conflict.