Will Quince predicts funding will boost pandemic preparedness and reduce health inequalities

Source: www.theguardian.com

The current scheme involved projects in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi and Somaliland. Its current three-year contract was due to end this month, but had been expected to be renewed, as with previous iterations. Renewing funding in 2023, under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, then health minister Will Quince said: “This funding aims to make a real difference in strengthening the performance of health systems in each of the participating countries, which will have a knock-on effect on boosting global pandemic preparedness and reducing health inequalities. The pandemic showed us that patients in the UK are not safe unless the world as a whole is resilient against health threats.” In one project, the Power for the People Africa Trust is funded through the programme to train staff to tackle gender-based violence and reduce linked teenage pregnancies and HIV infections in Kenya’s Homa Bay county. Caren Okombo of the trust said gains would reverse if funding stopped, adding: “New HIV infections in Homa Bay today: at some point these infections would cross borders. They would get to [Britain’s] population as well.