Department of Health response to the IDC Inquiry on ODA

Background

1. In the 2015 Spending Review, DH was allocated £950m of new ODA funding over the Spending Review period split between Global Health Research (£449.5m); Global Health Security (£477m) and supporting low-income countries on Tobacco Control (£15m).
2. Investing UK aid to address global health challenges in ODA-eligible countries will help reduce the burden of death and disease, lead to a reduction in the economic burden and other societal costs attributable to outbreaks, drug resistance and tobacco use, and ultimately make better use of health system resources to improve health and well-being of their populations.

Progress to date

3. The Global Health Security Programme contributes to the UK Aid Strategy, specifically, ‘strengthening resilience and response to crises.’  This work forms part of the Ross Fund, which will fund work to tackle the most dangerous infectious diseases, including malaria. The fund will also support work to fight diseases of epidemic potential, such as Ebola, neglected tropical diseases, and drug resistant infections through projects to:

• develop a new vaccines and technologies to tackle diseases with epidemic potential
• fund and leverage wider investment in new innovative antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research and development
• to improve laboratory capacity and diagnosis plus data surveillance of AMR in low and middle income countries worldwide
• build capability of low & middle income countries to meet the WHO International Health Regulations
• investigate and respond to disease outbreaks before they become health emergencies through the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team.

4. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) is currently undertaking a Learning Review into ‘The UK aid response to global health threats’. The report is due to be published in the New Year.
5. In support of the UK Aid Strategy, the Global Health Research Programme will deliver internationally outstanding applied global health research for the direct and primary benefit of patients and the public in low and middle income countries. Building on the expertise and the gold-standard research commissioning processes of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the programme has already committed to the following initiatives:

• Infrastructure – Funding allocated to 33 NIHR Global Health Research Units and Groups, through which UK universities are working in equitable partnership with researchers in Low and Middle Income Countries to address under-funded or under-researched global health areas, such as surgery, injury and non-communicable diseases, as well as infectious diseases. Further funding has been allocated to a second Groups call, which will begin funding in April 2018.

• Programmes - Commitments to funding calls with other partners, including the cross-Research Council AMR programme, and Joint Global Health Trials with DFID, MRC and Wellcome.
• Faculty - Over 150 individuals in the UK and LMICs will benefit from training and capacity building through the Units and Groups, including tailored access to the NIHR Academy.

6. Tobacco use is the world’s single most preventable cause of death and disease, and by 2030 over 80% of the world’s tobacco-related mortality will be in developing countries. As global leaders in tobacco control the UK Government is investing ODA funding to support the FCTC 2030 project. The project is promoting and supporting governments to implement the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and help create the same public health protections as people in the UK benefit from on tobacco control.

Governance

7. The Department has set up robust ODA governance frameworks including programme and project boards which meet regularly to oversee ODA spending and ensure delivery is in line with the UK Aid Strategy.  The Department has set up a DH ODA Investment Committee to oversee the proper management of DH’s ODA programmes with a focus on value for money and transparency.  The Department’s ODA Finance Oversight Group and ODA Transparency Working Group report to the DH ODA Investment Committee. 

Work with DFID

8. The Department of Health works closely with DFID on its ODA programmes through participating in the Cross-Whitehall ODA Senior Officials group and Global Health Oversight Group.  DFID representatives attend DH ODA Programme Boards and DH and DFID CSAs have joint oversight of the DH-DFID Global Health Research (GHR) working group. DFID have provided specialist commercial advice to DH as well as ODA procurement and transparency expertise.