In its latest report on AMR, the government said it will “support health systems to strengthen their water, sanitation, and hygiene provisions – which helps to reduce the need for antibiotics in countries overseas,” but was vague on how it would do so.
“There’s an alarming mismatch between the government’s words and actions, and they need to put money where their mouth is,” said WaterAid CEO Tim Wainwright.
The foreign office has cut its funding for WASH significantly over the last six years, which now represents just 0.45 per cent of the government’s overseas aid budget.
Consequently, programmes designed to provide safe drinking water, modern toilets, and waste management systems in partner countries like Mali and Zimbabwe have been forced to descale – or completely cease – operations.
Despite this, the government said that it “recognises the importance of assisting other countries to address AMR, including providing financial and technical support to build capacity for water and sanitation.”
“The plan says all the right things, but we’re in an environment where investment in WASH has been far lower than it should have been,” Wainwright added.
‘AMR doesn’t respect borders’
Termed the ‘silent pandemic’, AMR is directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths every year as bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens further evolve to evade modern medicine.
But its not just a problem for the developing world – in England alone, 58,224 people had an antibiotic-resistant infection in 2022, up by 4 per cent from the previous year.
“Like Covid, AMR doesn’t respect borders – just because we have a good domestic record on this issue, it’s meaningless if we don’t tackle it worldwide,” said Tory MP Julian Sturdy, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on AMR.
The MPs have now urged Foreign Secretary David Cameron to up the UK’s overseas aid budget for WASH to at least 10 per cent to tackle AMR on a global scale.
“The budget might even need to go beyond that 10 per cent figure, and I certainly agree with the principle that we need to spend more on WASH,” Sturdy told The Telegraph.
“The UK is far from immune from the spread of infectious diseases, and while Covid-19 has reminded us of this, we are still sleepwalking – and inadequate WASH, especially in healthcare settings, is fueling this threat,” added Fleur Anderson, Labour MP and member of the APPG on AMR.
UK cuts on aid spending have affected overseas development projects across the board in recent years. In November 2020, the Government announced aid would be temporarily cut from 0.7 per cent of gross domestic income to 0.5 per cent, owing to the effect of Covid-19 on the economy.
Between 2020 and 2022, UK spending on global health fell by 38.6 per cent and now represents just 10.1 per cent of the nation’s foreign aid contribution.
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