§ Lord Gardenasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have contributed funds to the Coalition Provisional Authority and the Iraqi Ministry of Health's public health surveillance activities since March 2003; if so, whether those funds have been dispensed; and what results have been achieved. [HL629]
§ Baroness AmosDuring the existence of the Coalition Provincial Authority (CPA) in Iraq, the United Kingdom provided a total of 14 UK personnel to the CPA to work in the health sector. The total cost to HM Government of seconding these personnel was approximately £460,000.
DfID's current support to the health sector is focused on primary healthcare. Assistance has been supplied through the provision of professional advice to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Baghdad and Basra, which assisted in the development of the MoH planning guidelines for 2005. In addition, a £5 million grant has been made through the World Health Organisation (WHO). Under this grant, the WHO has rented vehicles for needs assessments and disease surveillance, procurement, operating expenses, office and data processing equipment etc. at a cost of £1.72 million.
Additional DfID support for health services in Iraq is channelled through the multi-donor trust funds managed by the United Nations and the World Bank. DfID has made an initial contribution of £70 million to these trust funds and, together with contributions from other donors, about 1 billion dollars is available for Iraqi priorities in health and other sectors. For 146WA example, using trust fund moneys, the WHO continues to support MoH in communicable disease surveillance programmes and assessment of primary health care centres and hospitals.