Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-28.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterparts (a) in South America and (b) elsewhere on steps to prevent the spread of the Zika virus.
Mr Hugo Swire
British officials across the region have been working closely with their counterparts on steps to understand and prevent the spread of the Zika Virus. We have focused particularly on Brazil, which has seen the highest number of cases in the region. On 26 January, the UK announced a new Zika research project between Glasgow University and Fiocruz, a leading biomedical research centre in Brazil. The following day, a scientist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine arrived in Recife to support Zika research led by the Pan American Health Organisation. Discussions are also ongoing between Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials and the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency with regards to combating this virus. On 1 February, I discussed Zika with Ambassadors from the Group of Latin America Countries (GRULAC), highlighting UK assistance to date on this issue and stressing the importance of providing information to those planning their travel now, not least to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
