Policy Updates

On December 11, 2024, the UK announced a new GBP5 million (US$6 million) program with the RBM Partnership to End Malaria to boost global efforts to end malaria epidemic, stimulate growth, protect women and girls, and renew the push to eliminate malaria by 2030.

The announcement followed the launch of the WHO’s World Malaria Report 2024, which outlined that malaria remains a serious global health challenge and saw an increase of cases in 2023.

The UK’s pledge will support the RBM Partnership to End Malaria as it works to galvanize global leaders in the fight against malaria. UK is slated to include tackling resistance to malaria treatments and supporting efforts to control malaria in Cameroon, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda.

On December 2, 2024, the South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare and the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care held a Health Dialogue, building on their MOU on healthcare cooperation signed in August 2023.

They reviewed the achievements of cooperation in R&D, shared public health best practices, and explored future cooperation.

The 2^nd South Korean Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Min-soo Park highlighted international solidarity and cooperation to address growing health inequalities, and emphasized the importance of international solidarity in addressing health inequalities. Park expressed hope that this inaugural Health Dialogue would foster new horizons in healthcare cooperation between the two countries and help to advance UHC.

On November 4, 2024, it was announced that the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office Sir Philip Barton will stand down in January 2025.

Sir Philip became permanent secretary in the department in 2020 but will leave his post short of the full five-year terms achieved by his two predecessors.

His departure means the government has yet another big civil service role to fill including the cabinet secretary, national security advisor, and UK ambassador in Washington.

On November 3, 2024, the UK Minister for the Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty announced new support for Anguilla’s health and security infrastructure as he makes his first visit to the Overseas Territories this week.

The Minister will be opening Anguilla’s new emergency 911 control room, partly funded by the UK government, and a facility that will be vital asset in helping to improve public safety. He will also formally announce the UK government’s provision of two new ambulances to Anguilla, and a new boat for assisting with coastal search and rescue operations.

On October 31, 2024, South Korean Minister Kyu-hong Cho attended the 2024 G20 Health Ministers‘ Meeting and Joint Finance and Health Ministers‘ Meeting held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In discussions with representatives from various countries, Minister Cho explored ways to enhance equity in healthcare access and achieve UHC by building a sustainable and resilient global health system.

He emphasized the efficient use of resources for pandemic prevention, response, and preparedness and underscored the importance of a balanced review of the characteristics, advantages, and limitations of various health crisis financing options.

The Health Ministers' Meeting joint declaration, the first in three years, will be an outcome of the upcoming G20 Summit and a significant milestone for future international health meetings and negotiations.

On October 30, 2024, it was reported that the UK will not return to spending 0.7% of GNI on ODA until at least 2030 after the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered her first budget.

The government rejected pleas to top-up the development budget to offset the billions diverted to pay for hosting asylum-seekers, prompting a fresh warning that overseas program spending will heavily decrease this year.

Devex also reports that Labour has abandoned the idea of setting its own economic tests for reversing the 2020 decision to slash ODA spending from 0.7% to 0.5% — and will stick to the rules set by the previous Conservative Party government.

On October 16, 2024, the CGD published a data visualization tool and report outlining the upcoming multilateral replenishments.

Over 2024-2025, almost all the major multilateral concessional funds—including World Bank’s IDA, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; and the Global Fund —will seek to raise what could amount to over US$100 billion in grants from donors.

The CGD analysis outlined that since 2010, the core multilateral share of ODA has dropped from 23% to 18% percent in 2022. Instead, the largest donor governments are opting to channel ODA bilaterally. The CGD believes that this is largely due to growing skepticism of multilateralism and foreign assistance alongside inward-facing political priorities across advanced economies.

There are several pledging events scheduled before the end of the year: the Pandemic Fund in end October, WHO’s inaugural Investment Round in mid-November, and the World Bank’s IDA pledging meeting in early December. GAVI is also seeking to raise US$9 billion, though timing for its pledging conference is yet to be confirmed.

To combat this, the CGD has suggested that donors must make a clear-eyed assessment of the entire landscape of funds, and highlighted the need for ambitious—yet feasible—policy proposals to ensure a more effective and sustainable system that responds to the needs and priorities of low- and middle-income countries.

On October 14, 2024, the ODI assessed volumes of UK ODA to IDRCs in 2024 and considered ways to reduce costs.

GBP4.3 billion (US$5.6 billion) of the UK ODA budget was spent inside the UK in 2023 to support asylum seekers and refugees.

ODI found that if the government continues to spend and report the same amount of ODA per asylum seeker and refugee as in 2023, then total refugee-related costs will remain high, at around GBP3.6 billion (US$4.7 billion) in 2024. This is around four times the amount the UK spent on humanitarian support in 2023, or on global health; and would be the largest area of UK ODA spend.

While the cost of hosting Ukrainian refugees has fallen by about GBP750 million (US$982 million), the additional GBP2 billion (US$2.6 billion) in ODA provided by the chancellor in 2023 has so far not been matched. If the UK government chooses to count refugee spend as ODA and reduces wider ODA spend to hold the envelope at 0.5% of GNI, it will mean further substantial cuts to ODA in 2024. In-donor refugee costs will continue to be the largest area of UK ODA spend and, based on spending in 2023.

The chancellor is set to outline her first budget on October 30, 2024, where there may be further indication on the ODA budget and in donor refugee costs.

On October 10 and 11, 2024, the G7's Health Ministerial Meeting took place in Ancona, Italy. The discussion focused on three overarching priorities: Global Health Architecture and Pandemic Preparedness and Response, healthy and active aging, and the One Health Approach.

The G7 Health Ministers Communiqué, released at the end of the meeting, highlights the G7's commitment to supporting SDG #3 through universal health coverage, primary health care, and sexual and reproductive health. This also includes maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health, strengthening the global health architecture by investing in PPR, promoting regional manufacturing of health products, and equitable access to quality health services.

The communiqué emphasized the health-related impacts of conflicts with a reference to the crises in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, and Sudan. Furthermore, in the communiqué, the G7 Ministries committed to continue to support Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Fund, whose replenishment processes will occur in the upcoming months.

The Civil 7 engagement group, a platform through which civil society can engage with the G7, reacted with a communiqué in which they expressed an appreciation for the re-commitment to ending HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria through robust support for the Global Fund in its replenishment next year. This support is crucial to ending the three epidemics as agreed upon in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Finally, the G7 Health Ministers also adopted a policy brief on the opportunities presented by AI for both healthcare providers and patients.

On September 27, 2024, the UK government released its final ODA statistics, which showed that the UK ODA budget rose by 20% between 2022 and 2023 to reach GBP15. 3 billion (US$ 18.3 billion), 0.58% ODA/GNI.

A large share of UK ODA was spent on housing refugees inside the UK, with GBP4.3 billion (US$5.2 billion) or 28% of the UK ODA budget in 2023. The statistics also show that there was a significant increase in the share of UK ODA spent via multilateral organizations, which rose from GBP3.1 billion (US$3.7 billion) in 2022 to GBP5.4 billion (US$6.5 billion) in 2024, predominately due to a large payment to the World Bank’s IDA.

UK bilateral ODA spend was GBP10 billion (US$12 billion), 65% of total UK ODA, and UK core funding to multilateral organizations was GBP5.3 billion (US$6.4 billion), 35% of total UK ODA.

In terms of top bilateral sectors, the largest amount of funding was spent on ‘Refugees in Donor Countries’ in 2023, followed by the humanitarian sector and ‘Multisector/Cross-cutting’ sector.

In terms of geographic disbursements, Africa increased its share of region-specific bilateral ODA moving to 46% (up from 42%) but the volume of funding fell marginally. The top three recipients of UK country specific bilateral ODA were Ukraine (GBP250 million/US$299 million), Ethiopia (GBP164 million/US$196 million), and Afghanistan (GBP115 million/US$137 million).

The overall increase in ODA, however, masked some significant decreases. The share of bilateral ODA received by LDCs has fallen to 47.2% in 2023 compared to 53% in 2018. Bilateral ODA to health, humanitarian, education, and water and sanitation also saw steep declines.

• Humanitarian ODA stood at GBP878 million (US$1 billion) in 2023, a fall of 21% compared to 2022, 43% since 2020 and its lowest level since 2014;
• Health ODA stood at GBP764 million (US$843 million) in 2023, a fall of 21% compared to 2022, 52% since 2020 and its lowest level since 2014;
• Education ODA stood at GBP346 million (US$414 million) in 2023, a marginal decrease compared to 2022, but a decrease of 64% since 2016 and its lowest level since 2009; and
• WASH fell to just GBP38 million (US$45 million), a decrease of 17% compared to 2020, 82% since 2018 and its lowest level since 2009.