Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 28 June (HL1041), what discussions, if any, they have had with Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases to discuss the finding that most of the 770 million medicines donated by pharmaceutical companies will not be delivered because of cuts in Overseas Development Assistance; and if they have not had any such discussions, whether they plan to do so.
The FCDO is currently working with implementing partners, drug companies, donors, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to exit the programme Accelerating the Sustainable Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ASCEND). As part of this we have participated in two stakeholder meetings in June, at which Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases were present. We have also been in touch with the organisation recently via correspondence.
Global health remains a top priority for UK ODA and we will continue to be a major contributor in leading international action to strengthen global health security and help build more resilient health systems. Departmental cross-government allocations of ODA spend for 2021/22 were laid out in a Written Ministerial Statement in Parliament on 21 April and the Foreign Secretary highlighted that FCDO will spend £1,305 million on global health, which means that we will remain among the most generous international donors.