Policy Updates

On June 20, 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron attended the Gavi Investment Opportunity and AVMA launch in Paris, France, and pledged to reallocate GBP49 million (US$58 million) to Gavi’s newly launched AVMA through reallocated COVID-19 funding already committed to Gavi.

Co-hosted by Gavi, the African Union, and France, the event saw Gavi lay out its investment case for 2026 and 2030 and call for US$9 billion in new donor funding.

The UK did not make an early pledge to Gavi’s new replenishment, unlike the US, France, Spain, and some philanthropic providers, which committed a total of US$2.4 billion. Gavi is set to engage in an intense period of fundraising with a view to hosting a final pledging event in 7 to 12 months.

Since the creation of Gavi, the UK has invested GBP5.5 billion (US$7 billion) in the organization, helping to vaccinate over a billion children and save millions of lives.

The UK did not provide an early pledge to Gavi's 2026-2030 replenishment.

On May 16, 2024, international NGO Christian Aid released a new report, titled Between Life and Debt, that outlined the devastating debt crisis engulfing Africa and calling on the UK government to address the crisis through legal intervention.

The report, which draws on testimonies from Christian Aid partners in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria and Zambia, revealed that:

• Total external debt service by all African countries was US$85 billion in 2023 and US$104 billion in 2024;
• In 2023, African countries spent over 50 times more on external debt than they received in aid from the UK (and 50% more than total assistance to the region);
• 25 African countries spend more on debt than education; and
• 32 African countries spend more on debt than healthcare.

The report asserted that the debt problem is largely due to Western private lenders, who have lent to Africa at extremely high interest rates, far higher than other sovereign lenders like China. Total external debt service by all African countries to private creditors was US$39 billion in 2023 and US$47 billion in 2024, and that private creditors charge the highest interest rates of 6.2%.

Christian Aid argued that the UK government has the unique power to help remedy the crisis, given that most private creditors, due to colonial history, are governed by British law. The organization called on the UK to step up and take action to change UK law to compel private creditors to cancel debts and stop the crisis.

On May 16, 2024, the UK government announced an additional GBP85 million (US$102 million) to tackle AMR, focusing on supporting initiatives in Africa and the Caribbean.

The pledge was made at the Royal Society’s international event calling for action on AMR. The event was attended by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt and His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales.

The funding built on the UK's recently updated AMR strategy and previous commitments. It is slated to provide the following:

• GBP50 million (US$60 million) to support the supply of essential antimicrobial drugs in Africa, building on the ongoing work of the UK Global AMR Innovation Fund;
• Up to GBP25 million (US$30 million) to support Caribbean countries and territories in strengthening surveillance systems for AMR to identify and tackle outbreaks before they develop. The funding will support regional partners such as the Caribbean Public Health Agency and the Pan American Health Organization and explore the potential to support the delivery of AMR centers in the Caribbean in alignment with the UK's Fleming Initiative;
• GBP10 million (US$12 million) to support the creation of a new international scientific panel to coordinate global action on tackling AMR. The panel will be modelled on the success of other international scientific panels like the IPCC; and
• GBP2 million (US$2 million) to create a specific team in the UK's MHRA to support the creation of novel new antimicrobials and diagnostics. The team will focus on building a joint understanding of antimicrobial resistance across global regulators, particularly in LMICs.

The projects build on ongoing international and domestic work to prevent the spread of AMR. This includes the recently announced national action plan and a partnership through the Fleming Fund, backed by GBP210 million (US$251 million), with countries across Asia and Africa to tackle AMR and reduce the threat posed to the UK.

On May 8, 2024, the UK released its new 5-year national plan, covering the period of 2024-2029, for tackling AMR in animals and humans.

The new strategy set out nine key goals under four key - themes:

• Reducing the need for antimicrobials, including through surveillance to prevent infections from arising;
• Optimizing the use of antimicrobials;
• Investing in the development of new vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics; and
• Being a good global partner through international leadership forums like the G7 and G20 as well as supporting low- and middle-income countries to respond to the threat of AMR through research, good supply chains and access to antibiotics via investments in the Fleming Fund, GAMRIF and the UKRI cross-councils initiative.

On May 2, 2024, the UK government responded to the ICAI, the UK’s aid watchdog, recommendations for tackling fraud in UK ODA funding.

The FCDO thanked ICAI for reviewing the UK's approach to combating fraud in ODA funding released earlier in 2024. The FCDO partially accepted ICAI’s first recommendation to take a more robust and proactive approach to anticipating fraud. The FCDO noted that it was actively exploring the cost-effectiveness of creating an FCDO Fraud Intelligence Unit and was expanding its Fraud Liaison Officers’ Network to strengthen oversight.

The FCDO also partially accepted the second recommendation to strengthen its fraud in its top 20 ODA recipient countries, noting that it will reinforce the mandatory annual assurance assessment across control and risk areas and expand its Fraud Liaison Officer's network.

The FCDO fully accepted the final two recommendations, which called for new fraud management guidance to be written for capital investments and to increase the Head of Mission’s oversight and accountability for fraud risks relating to centrally managed and other government programs.

On February 6, 2024, the UK government announced GBP100 million (US$119 million) to a new fund to end preventable deaths in Ethiopia, targeted at children, pregnant women, and post-natal women.

The fund aims to help more than 3 million people and will focus on supporting people in the Tigray region.

The fund was announced after UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell returned from a 2-day visit to Ethiopia to witness the ongoing regional humanitarian crisis. Mitchell called for other development cooperation providers to step up and financially support the crisis.

On December 13, 2023, departing Chief Executive of Oxfam Great Britain Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah called on the UK Labour Party to ensure it puts global solidarity at the center of their international development policy.

Sriskandarajah noted the need to target ODA where it is needed and supporting strong public health systems. He advocated against UK ODA being used as a foreign and trade policy instrument and also advocated against the practice of counting in-donor refugee costs as ODA.

Sriskandarajah also called on the Labour Party to stop addressing development, climate, and migration as separate policy areas rather than interlocking issues. He recommended that Labour should work to dismantle vested interests blocking efforts to cut emissions, invest in helping refugees, and find innovative ways of raising funding to tackle big climate issues, including through fair-share pollution taxes and increased wealth taxes.

Sriskandarajah also called on the Labour Party to show leadership on debt relief for poor countries by enforcing private creditor responsibility through changes to UK law, supporting a new convention on tax to reduce tax avoidance, and responding constructively to growing calls for reparations by forging partnerships based on the pursuit of equitable development and racial justice.

On November 1, 2023, the UK government announced that it will provide GBP38 million (US$46 million) to a new GBP80 million (US$96 million) global initiative to speed up the use of AI to support international development.

The announcement was made at the inaugural AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, UK. The initiative, which is also being supported by Canada, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the US, and partners in Africa, aims to utilize AI to combat inequality and boost prosperity, primarily in Africa. It will focus on building the capacity of and supporting African AI expertise to address long-standing development challenges.

The UK’s funding will come from a new phase of the UK AI for Development Programme. The following goals were listed as priorities until 2028:

• Funding post-graduate training and fellowships in AI in African universities;
• Investing in innovators building models with data that accurately represent the African continent;
• Fostering responsible AI governance to help African countries mitigate the risks of AI; and
• Enhancing the Sub-Saharan African voice on how to use AI to further the UN SDGs.

On October 25, 2023, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo called on the UK to ensure that India’s ability to produce generic medicines is protected under the trade deal currently being negotiated with the UK.

India is a critical producer of generic medicines, providing approximately 20% of the global supply of generics annually. Generic medicines can lower the cost of medicines by up to 80% and have been vital in enabling key medicine acccess in LICs. Obasanjo noted that in Nigeria, for example, Indian generics reduced the cost of HIV treatments from US$10,000 per patient annually to approximately US$365. India supplied 80% of Nigeria’s antiretroviral HIV medicines in the early 2000s.

Obasanjo expressed his concern that India’s ability to supply LICs with generic drugs is currently being threatened by the UK's developing trade deal with India. Obasanjo noted that the UK is pushing for major changes to Indian intellectual property legislation beyond internationally recognized TRIPS standards. Obasanjo highlighted that the UK is calling for patent terms to be extended beyond the 20-year TRIPS standard, which has potential to delay competition in generic markets. He also noted that the UK is calling for Indian legislation to be changed to limit challenges to existing patents, which may further limit India’s ability to produce timely and relevant generic alternatives.

Obasanjo pointed out at that the UK’s current negotiating stance with India is at odds with its recent Global Health Framework policy paper, which called for the UK to play a critical role in strengthening global health. The impending trade deal may instead threaten the supply of inexpensive and quality medicines that many LICs depend on.

From September 20 to 22, 2023, the UK announced up to GBP498.5 million (US$596 million) for global health initiatives at the High-Level meetings on health at the 78^th UN General Assembly.

The package included:

• Up to GBP295 million (US$353 million) for health research and development partnerships. These partnerships included: the creation of a new research center focused on the most dangerous infectious diseases; funding to support the development of accessible and affordable new vaccines, drugs, medical devices, and diagnostics; and funding to reduce maternal, neonatal, and child mortality in low- and middle-income countries. The funding includes GBP80 million (US$9 5.9 million) already committed to CEPI;
• GBP5 million (US$6 million) of additional funding for the TB Alliance for 2023 to 2024;
• Up to GBP103.5 million (US$124 million) for the UKVN Project to support critical research combating infectious diseases and epidemics; and
• GBP95 million (US$113 million) for the Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Program II, which aims to partner with Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UK also welcomed the TB declaration agreed at the High-Level meetings and called for a renewed push to deliver UHC with a focus on delivering primary healthcare, combating financial hardship hindering healthcare access, and strengthening the global health workforce.