Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support he has provided to the (a) Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and (b) World Health Organisation to tackle the measles outbreak in that country.

The UK is a longstanding donor to the health sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, improving health services, including capacity to tackle disease outbreaks. The UK remains deeply concerned by the ongoing Measles outbreak. We are providing support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo government response through United Nations agencies and Global Alliance for Vaccines (GAVI).

The UK has ensured a £3.2 million emergency allocation from the UN Humanitarian Fund, mostly going to the World Health Organisation for measles vaccinations and treatment. DFID is the largest contributor to the Humanitarian Fund. As a key core funder of GAVI, the UK is also supporting ongoing immunisation work nationwide, including for measles.

We are continuing to follow progress with the response together with partners, keeping resource requirements to end the outbreak under review.