Coronavirus: UK commits £200m to Covid fight in developing countries
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The UK government will send £65m to the World Health Organisation as part of a wider financial package designed to stop the spread of the global pandemic in the world’s poorer countries.
A further £135m will be distributed to other UN agencies, charities and international organisations.
The additional money, which will count towards the UK’s 0.7% commitment to international aid, brings the UK’s overall Covid-19 aid commitment up to nearly three-quarters of a billion.
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The commitment to funding the World Health Organisation will be seen as a rebuke to President Trump, who last week said he would consider “reforms” to the global health outfit and lashed out at it for missing the emergence of the pandemic.
The UK government said the money would contribute to ensuring that a second global wave of coronavirus is kept in check.
International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “While our brilliant doctors and nurses fight coronavirus at home, we’re deploying British expertise and funding around the world to prevent a second deadly wave reaching the UK.
“Coronavirus does not respect country borders so our ability to protect the British public will only be effective if we strengthen the healthcare systems of vulnerable developing countries too.
“Our new UK aid support will help stop the virus from infecting millions of people in the poorest countries, meaning we can end this global pandemic sooner and prevent future waves of infection coming to the UK.”