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Written question asked by Lord Judd (Labour) on Wednesday, 3 February 2021, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 February 2021. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Monday, 15 February 2021 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Gaza: Development Aid

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the health situation in Gaza; and how much financial assistance they intend to provide to that region to meet any health-related need.

Answer

The UK remains concerned about the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza and the impact of COVID-19 on an already fragile healthcare system. We are pleased that the OPTs will be among the first to benefit from the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) - the international initiative to support global equitable access to vaccines, with delivery of a first batch of more than 37,000 doses of the of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine anticipated in mid-February.

The UK was one of the first donors to provide funding to support the health and humanitarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the OPTs. We have provided £1.25m funding (WHO with £630,000 and UNICEF with £620,000) to purchase and co-ordinate delivery of medical equipment, treat critical care patients, train frontline health workers and scale up laboratory testing capacity - mainly in Gaza. The FCDO is currently running a prioritisation exercise across all its programmes, to ensure that every pound we spend goes as far as possible. The Foreign Secretary will communicate the outcome shortly.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL12968
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Development aid Health Gaza
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk