Following allegations of abuse and misconduct by staff in the international development sector, Holyrood’s International Development Minister Dr Alasdair Allan has written to all non-governmental organisations working overseas and funded by the Scottish Government. Continue reading Ministers act following aid abuse allegations
Britain will provide clean water, food, medical care and blankets to millions of Syrians, including those who have fled Aleppo, been caught up in the current fighting and displaced in neighbouring Jordan, International Development Secretary Priti Patel announced yesterday. Continue reading More UK aid heading to Aleppo
Britain’s latest Ebola aid flight, carrying lifesaving medicines, landed in Freetown yesterday, International Development Secretary Justine Greening has confirmed.
This was the UK’s tenth aid flight and carried the first batch of medicines, including morphine and antibiotics, from the UK for the 92 bed treatment facility in Kerry Town, which is nearing completion.
The cargo also included a chiller van vital for transporting heat sensitive medicines in temperatures that can reach up to 40°C and five additional 4×4 vehicles needed to ensure that vital stocks can be transported to the 6 treatment centres the UK is building to help defeat Ebola.
Justine Greening said: “The UK has mounted a huge response to the Ebola outbreak, dispatching ten aid flights so far, carrying hundreds of tonnes of supplies for our treatment centres which will care for up to 8,800 patients over 6 months. I have just returned from Freetown where I saw first-hand the scale of the outbreak and the central role that the UK is playing in helping Sierra Leone defeat Ebola.”
Aid supplies delivered so far now include: 58 vehicles including ambulances; 75 water tanks; 3 incinerators for disposing of clothing and other materials; 12 generators; personal protection equipment; radio equipment; lighting sets; chlorine for sanitation; WC facilities; temporary warehouse tents; 14 air conditioning units and isolator equipment.
Praise for local school’s ‘Send my sisters to school’ campaign
Edinburgh North and Leith MP Mark Lazarawicz has stressed the role of education in offering a better life for children in the world’s poorest countries.
Speaking during a Westminster debate in Africa, the MP referred to sub-Saharan Africa in particular but pointed to how young women are so often still denied even the chance of a primary education.
That’s a point highlighted to Mark recently by children from St Mary’s (Edinburgh) Primary School in East London Street, who delivered 300 cut-out figures the pupils had produced as part of the Send My Sister to School campaign.
Commenting after the debate, Mark said: “Education is a basic human right and yet the recent shock of the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria by extremists highlighted how girls and young women especially still so often fail to get the chance of finishing even primary school.
“I was really impressed by how the letters written by the children from St Mary’s Primary School showed a genuine desire for children whose lives are so different to have the same chance children here have to an education.
“There is a vital meeting next week to decide funding for the next four years of the international Global Partnership for Education initiative yet the UK Government has not yet said if a Minister will be attending.
“Education should be a right not a privilege for people in the world’s poorest countries as here but without funding we won’t move closer to making that a reality.”
Progress has been made: since 1999 the number of children out of school around the world has fallen by almost by half. Yet in many countries the goal of universal completion of even primary school remains far-off and inequality of opportunity remains deep-rooted between children from rich and poor backgrounds and also between girls and boys.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 30 million primary-aged children are out of school – 22% of the region’s primary school age population. One in four girls don’t receive even a basic education and only about a quarter of those from the poorest households will complete primary school.
A meeting to decide funding over the next four years for the Global Partnership for Education programme takes place in Brussels on Thursday (26th June). There has been a decline in recent years in external aid for education so Mr Lazarowicz believes it is important that the UK Government gives a strong lead there.
