Humanitarian crises monitoring: impact of coronavirus (interim findings) Contents

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Conclusions and recommendations

Coronavirus—risks and threats

1.We recommend that, as part of a renewed consistent approach to promoting global health, the FCDO should continue to fund existing programmes aimed at the eradication of previously identified diseases. The Government should use its integrated voice to lobby development allies and partners to stop any transfer of resources from existing programmes, and the Global Fund, to Covid initiatives. (Paragraph 45)

2.Successive UK governments have always stated that safeguarding and action against gender-based violence, including sexual violence, were high priorities for action. We have previously welcomed this stance and recommend that the new Department continues to make it a priority to maintain and strengthen the international alliance around initiatives in this area. We also recommend that the new Department maintains the UK’s international leadership on this agenda, preserves existing levels of funding and seeks to identify what further interventions may counteract the effect that Covid has had in increasing levels of domestic violence and sexual exploitation and abuse of women and children. (Paragraph 52)

3.We recommend that the Government continues to project clearly onto the international stage, the importance it places on the UK’s place within the rules-based international infrastructure and the crucial foundations of human rights and the rule of law as fundamental British values. (Paragraph 55)

The UK response

4.We believe the FCDO should:

• recognise that the eradication of the pandemic everywhere is an integral part of resolving the threat anywhere and therefore switch its financial support for Covid-19 vaccines, therapies and tests voluntarily from its ODA pot to other budgets (thereby freeing up resources for more frontline activity on secondary impacts in developing countries)
• re-commit to its ongoing programmes and provide new funding for the Covid-19 response—in particular in relation to secondary impacts—from ODA, freed up from Covid-19 vaccine R&D, rather than allowing the transfer of scarce resources from existing programmes, especially those tackling other diseases
• use its significant leverage as leading development actor in many areas (gender equality, disability inclusion, poverty alleviation) to lead an inclusive and transparent approach by the donor community (both bilateral and multilateral),
• put local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and their partner International NGOs at the heart of the global Covid-19 response as they are closest to end-user communities and benefit from existing relationships of trust and confidence. (Paragraph 91)

5.We conclude that, for the time being, it would not be prudent for the Government to work on the basis that funding allocated to research for vaccines, treatments or tests for Covid-19 would count as ODA, as it “contributes to addressing a global challenge and not a disease disproportionately affecting people in developing countries”. Our view is that this frees up a substantial sum from the 2020 ODA pot to be applied to, either alleviate part of the cuts made in anticipation of reduced GNI for 2020, or activity aimed at alleviating secondary impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. We would recommend the latter course (in so far as the options are mutually exclusive). (Paragraph 96)

Global health

6.At a strategic level, we urge the PM and the Government to be more ambitious for the UK’s G7 Presidency than simply calling for better cooperation in spotting, preventing and fighting another pandemic more effectively. Rather, we recommend the Government lead a charge towards the establishment of a holistic global health and nutrition strategy based around achieving Sustainable Development Goal Three (ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages) more broadly. This would put the world in a position to respond effectively to the next global health challenge, and the one after that, whatever these turn out to be—rather than just the last one we struggled with. (Paragraph 100)