WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR PARLIAMENT TO ACT?

When countries work together it is possible to set cross-border ambitions and achieve more than the sum of our parts. This is particularly true of global health security, as the COVID-19 pandemic most recently shone a light on. The UK government and parliament have demonstrated that it can play a vital role in protecting UK citizens from existing and new diseases – for example, through supporting both domestic and international disease surveillance so that we can identify new diseases or new strains early on and take precautionary measures to save lives.

Likewise, the UK government can foster a supportive environment for research and development, life sciences and businesses to innovate and manufacture new medical interventions – including vaccines, testing kits and treatments.

Similarly, the UK has a long history of committing resources to international aid to support some of the world’s poorest people and developing countries to stand on their own two feet so that they can build their own sustainable health systems.