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Chamber and committees

UK Government Suspends Vital Support for Treating Neglected Tropical Diseases

  • Submitted by: Kenneth Gibson, Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party.
  • Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2021
  • Motion reference: S6M-00109

That the Parliament notes with concern the news that hundreds of millions of medicines doses will reportedly go to waste in the world’s poorest countries, following a 90% cut in aid from the UK Government to treat neglected tropical diseases; understands that this is part of a wider foreign aid cut by the UK Government from 0.7% to 0.5% of gross national income, a £4 billion cut, which it considers to break Conservative Party manifesto commitments; expresses its deep concern that 770 million doses, which would deliver 250 million treatments, will reportedly not now proceed as planned, after most of the necessary funding was suspended as a result of these cuts; further understands that a further 180,000 vital disability-preventing surgical operations will not go ahead, and that the budget for organisations working on neglected tropical diseases has been reduced from £167 million in 2020-2021 to just £17 million for this financial year; believes that the UK Government should not cut its aid budget during a global pandemic and that, if it does, as a minimum it has a duty to reduce or end aid programmes responsibly and with appropriate notice, and calls on the UK Government to reverse what it considers to be devastating cuts and deliver on its international commitments.  


Supported by: Colin Beattie, Siobhian Brown, Stephanie Callaghan, James Dornan, Annabelle Ewing, Christine Grahame, Neil Gray, Bill Kidd, Fulton MacGregor, Rona Mackay, Ruth Maguire, Gillian Martin, John Mason, Paul McLennan, Stuart McMillan, Evelyn Tweed, Elena Whitham