Minimal health ODA supports additional SDG targets
Across the UK’s health ODA portfolio, there is little investment in SDG targets 3.5 (on tackling substance abuse), 3.6 (on reducing road traffic accidents), 3.9 (on reducing illness and death caused by hazardous chemicals and pollution), and 3.A (on strengthening the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control). This study has been limited to health sector ODA only however, meaning more UK ODA may be allocated to progressing towards these aims across other ODA sector classifications. For example, the UK finances the Global Road Safety Initiative (£9.8 million), which is not categorised as ODA to health, and DFID’s support to road safety is primarily managed through the infrastructure team.ccxlv The UK also hosts the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for public health management of Chemical Exposures.
Some UK ODA to health contributions are made towards these SDG targets however: DHSC supports the WHO’s implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control with £15 million for the period 2016-21 for example. In relation to target 3.5, while the UK Government reports working closely with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, a 2016 letter from the IDC Chair to the then Secretary of State for International Development notes that harm reduction interventions ‘all but stopped’ as DFID reduced its number of HIV-specific bilateral programmes to almost zero.
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