Recommendation 13

The Government argued that the FCO-DFID merger would be an opportunity to align aid spending with diplomatic policy, with the potential for gains in global health security. We are concerned that the Government is squandering this opportunity by making ill-considered cuts to vital global health programmes. It is short-sighted to cut spending on neglected tropical diseases, or health research for lower-income countries, in order to focus on covid-19. These steps could undermine the response to covid, and put us all at greater risk from the next pandemic. In particular, cutting spending on important medical research and development programmes is a dangerous false economy, and could endanger Global Britain’s reputation as a science superpower. We are disappointed by the lack of transparency over the cuts, and over how the decisions have been made. In response to this report, we recommend that the FCDO provides us with a full account of the changes faced by aid-funded health programmes, with details on how decisions have been made on which to cut. It should publicly commit to reinstituting previous levels of funding to health research programmes as soon as the fiscal situation allows. (Paragraph 40) Global Health, Global Britain 25