On Monday 15th July, The Coalition for Global Prosperity were delighted to host a packed room in parliament to showcase the leading work that the UK government, as well as British business and civil society is doing to promote access to healthcare across the globe.

The Coalition heard from senior speakers including The Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care), Lord Crisp KCB (Chair, APPG for Global Health), Richard Clarke (Director-General for Policy, Research and Humanitarian, DFID), Kade Mondeh (Consultant Midwife, Barts Hospital), Dianne Stewart (Head of Donor Relations, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria), Phil Thomson (President of Global Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline), Simon Wright (Director of International Development, Save the Children) and Theo Clarke (CEO, Coalition for Global Prosperity).

The event, co-hosted by the Coalition for Global Prosperity, Action for Global Health, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation brought together parliamentarians, business and NGOs to discuss Britain’s leading role in promoting Global Health and achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030.

The Coalition’s Theo Clarke opened proceedings by welcoming guests to the event, and spoke of the critical role of the Global Fund in improving global health and Britain’s leading role in tackling health epidemics such as Ebola.

Chair of the APPG on Global Health, Lord Crisp, then provided his opening remarks, stressing that we must focus on the ‘big picture stuff’ as well as the detail. He emphasised the enormous impact that the UK has had on improving health across the world, and told the audience that his APPG was in the process of undertaking a study to measure this contribution.

The audience then heard from keynote speaker, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock MP, who told guests that the UK had the ‘proudest record as a pioneer’ on health, and stressed that the Government would ensure that growing prosperity and global health go hand in hand. Hancock also praised the UK as a global leader in research and innovation, and stressed the importance of exporting this expertise to tackle some of the biggest challenges in Global health, including AMR, vaccinations and crisis response.

Following the speeches, Theo Clarke chaired a panel of experts on the issue, including Richard Clarke (Director-General for Policy, Research and Humanitarian, DFID), Kade Mondeh (Consultant Midwife, Barts Hospital), Dianne Stewart (Head of Donor Relations, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria), Phil Thomson (President of Global Affairs, GlaxoSmithKline) and Simon Wright (Director of International Development, Save the Children).

Panelists discussed the UK’s recent pledge to the Global Fund, the importance of cultural understanding ‘on the ground’ in global health programs and the Sustainable Development Goals.

After the panel there was an audience Q&A, in which questions centred around health in adolescent girls, Universal Health Coverage and the impact of Brexit on Britain’s role in Global health.