Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 5 May (HL 3447 ), whether the Essential Service Package disseminated in refugee camps includes personal protective equipment to protect health workers and clients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Humanitarian response is procuring personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers to prevent the spread of COVID-19. While each service provider is responsible for obtaining the PPE it needs, agencies are coordinating and sharing information, including supplier contacts, through the UN Logistics Cluster. The UN has quality control guidelines and is establishing a global common supply chain. Similarly, the Bangladesh Government is coordinating procurement and dissemination of PPE to all government hospitals, including those in Cox’s Bazar to which refugees with severe cases of COVID-19 or other illness may be referred.