Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

We know, in the absence of a vaccine or treatments, the importance of handwashing in stemming the spread of COVID-19. Yet, three billion people around the world do not have access to basic handwashing facilities. As you raised, millions of pupils and their teachers are unable to wash their hands with soap and water at school, placing both their health and education at risk.

I agree we should be doing everything we can to support countries to focus attention and resources on health systems, water, sanitation and hygiene. If support is lacking, many more health systems in the global south are at risk of becoming overwhelmed by the pandemic.

The UK Government says the UK is playing a leading role supporting hygiene and handwashing with soap in schools in at least 37 developing countries through its partnership with Unilever.

It is concerning, however, that in the middle of a global pandemic, the Prime Minister decided to scrap an independent Department for International Development (DfID), instead establishing the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

At a time when we need the global health expertise to drive the global response to COVID-19 and avoid further deadly waves, I am worried this decision will have a life-threatening impact on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.

This has been coupled with a cut of £2.9 billion to the aid budget for 2020. With little detail released and given that the Prime Minister has said he wants to use the aid budget more for security, I am worried about what this means for other important areas such as WASH.

When asked about increasing spending on WASH projects, the UK Government said that aid spending this year will prioritise the ‘bottom billion’, girls’ education, climate change, COVID-19 and media freedom. It did not confirm whether it would prioritise and fund WASH projects.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this important issue. I will continue to urge the UK Government to make sure the aid budget is focused on tackling poverty and that it shows global leadership to make the world safer, fairer and better.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP