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Britain’s largest nursing body has urged David Cameron to increase the UK’s international aid spending in order to bolster the global health workforce.
In a letter sent to the Foreign Secretary, and shared with the Telegraph, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) warned that recent cuts to overseas aid spending had undermined Britain’s pledge to help deliver universal health coverage by 2030 – a long-term goal set globally by the UN.
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. However, spending has yet to be restored.
In her letter, Pat Cullen, the Chief Executive and General Secretary of the RCN, said “this downgraded commitment will have had stark consequences for health outcomes around the world” and called upon Lord Cameron to be a “voice within government for the reinstatement of the 0.7 per cent target.”
Between 2020 and 2022, UK spending on global health fell by 38.6 per cent and now represents 10.1 per cent of the nation’s foreign aid contributions, Ms Cullen said.
An additional £9,188 million would have been available to fund development projects during this period had Britain remained committed to its previous 0.7 per cent spending commitment, the letter emphasises.
Reliant on global recruitment
Ms Cullen also highlighted that Britain’s “own nursing workforce is highly reliant on international recruitment with one in five nurses and midwives registered to practise in the UK receiving their training overseas.”
Alarmingly, she added, one in ten new nurses and midwives who started work in the past year were recruited from countries identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as facing pressing workforce challenges.
Globally, an additional 9 million nurses and midwives will be required to deliver universal health coverage by 2030, the WHO estimates, with current shortages concentrated in Africa and SouthEast Asia.
The allocation of foreign aid to projects “that develop the nursing and midwifery workforce in low- and middle-income countries provides an important means to redress the UK’s unsustainable over-reliance on recruitment from countries with critical workforce shortages,” Ms Cullen wrote.
“Despite the urgent need for action, in 2022 just 2 per cent of the UK’s health-related [aid] spend was allocated to projects to develop the global health workforce.”
The letter was written to mark Universal Health Coverage Day, which emphasises the right for people across the globe to access quality health services without financial barriers.
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