Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made on ending the preventable deaths of (a) mothers, (b) new-born babies and (c) children by 2030.

The UK is committed to ending the preventable deaths of mothers, new-born babies and children by 2030. Between April 2018 and March 2019 alone, DFID reached at least 23.5 million total women and girls with modern methods of family planning, saving 8,300 women’s lives and preventing the trauma of 89,900 stillbirths and 52,900 new-born deaths.

This is more important than ever given the COVID-19 pandemic. We are working to ensure essential health services continue despite the challenges. Our approach covers sexual and reproductive health and rights, maternal and new-born health, nutrition, and water, sanitation and hygiene services, all of which can help prevent mothers, new-borns and children dying unnecessarily.

A core focus of our ending preventable deaths work is to partner with governments and international health actors to strengthen health systems in the poorest countries. We are also leading internationally: the UK hosted the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June and raised $8.8 billion for GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance’s, next five years (2021-2025) of work, which includes the UK’s pledge of £1.65 billion. Using these vital funds, GAVI will immunise a further 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives against vaccine preventable diseases.