The Committee covered the UK response to the recent Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The Committee questioned representatives from Medecins Sans Frontieres – including a doctor recently returned from Sierra Leone - and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine on the current situation on the ground.
The Committee then questioned the Secretary of State for International Development Rt Hon Justine Greening MP on the UK response to the Ebola crisis, and healthcare issues more widely.
DfID has allocated £230 million for the Ebola crisis, and recently announced a commitment to spend £5m on strengthening and supporting health systems in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The Committee then took evidence from the Minister on DFID’s humanitarian response in Iraq. Questions covered the coordination of aid, the use of air drops, and what more could have been done from a development perspective during the British occupation of parts of Iraq to try to tackle the emergence of insurgency and terrorism.
The Committee concluded that the World Health Organisation and member country failings mean global health systems remain “Dangerously Inadequate” for dealing with health emergencies.
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