Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will ensure that in addition to direct covid-19 global intervention programmes his Department tackles the indirect effects of the pandemic on maternal and child health.

The UK Government remains committed to supporting child, newborn and maternal health interventions as part of our manifesto commitment to end preventable deaths of mothers, newborns and children by 2030. This is more important than ever given the COVID-19 pandemic which is exerting even more pressure on essential services with significant impacts for pregnant women, children and adolescents.

Globally we are working with agencies such as the World Health Organisation, UNFPA, the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health and the Global Financing Facility to support governments to maintain health systems in affected countries, provide technical guidance and advocate for sustained reproductive, maternal, new-born and child health services. This may include filling essential drug supply gaps and supporting frontline health workers to stay in their jobs and provide quality services.

The UK has also pledged £1.65 billion, the equivalent of £330 million per year, to support GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance's goal to immunise a further 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives.