To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the joint report from the APPG for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene and the APPG on Antibiotics entitled Prevention first: why clean water and hygiene are the best medicine against the spread of drug-resistant infections, published February 2023, what steps the Department is taking to help improve water, sanitation and hygiene in healthcare facilities to prevent antibiotic resistance.

The FCDO recognises the importance that clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in healthcare facilities has in preventing the spread of infection and reducing the need for antimicrobials globally.

The UK helped found the WASH In Healthcare Facilities international taskforce, and we push forward this agenda through our programming such as our innovative hand hygiene partnership with Unilever and through our core multilateral funding including to the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. At UN Water 2023 the UK announced £18.5 million of new funding to help strengthen WASH systems, an important step for helping improve WASH services in health care facilities.