Speeches

Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what UK bilateral and (b) multilateral funding to support health care system strengthening in countries determined by the WHO to be affected by, or at risk from the Zika virus, has been in each of the last six years.

Mr Nick Hurd

The table below shows UK bilateral disbursements, against a number of OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) health related classifications, to countries on the WHO list of those affected, or likely to be affected, by the Zika virus. These include basic health care, communicable disease control, health education and health personnel development, all of which contribute to strengthening health systems.

Table: UK ODA spend on health 2009-2014

£’000

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

Barbados

3

Brazil

13

1,461

2,779

491

1,233

87

Costa Rica

191

Dominican Republic

10

16

Ecuador

3

5

Guatemala

26

Guyana

2

2

Haiti

1,000

Honduras

9

Mexico

61

1,061

105

835

202

363

Nicaragua

219

0

Paraguay

3

2

Venezuela

7

Total

322

2,730

2,890

1,349

1,448

1,450

Source: Statistics on International Development 2015

The UK has also provided support to these countries through core contributions to multilateral organisations, but data on expenditure on specific sectors to specific countries is not available.

DFID and the Department of Health will request the World Health Organisation to provide further guidance on which countries beyond those currently affected are at greatest risk from Zika, including the risks to other regions including Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia; this is scientifically very challenging.