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Swine flu and the developing world

Swine flu is likely to have the greatest impact in the developing world as people have less access to health services or necessary drugs.

To help protect people in the developing world, the UK will provide up to £23 million in funding to help buy swine flu vaccine – equivalent to buying 10 per cent of the UK's domestic supply of swine flu vaccine.

The UK will also make the swine flu vaccine available to the WHO on a rolling basis as vaccine supplies become available.

The UK’s donation will help to protect essential workers, so that disruption of key services in the world's poorest and most fragile countries is reduced as much as possible.

Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "The UK recognises that H1N1 is a global pandemic which requires a global response. Solidarity with other nations is vital, particularly the poorest who may be most vulnerable and have least capacity to respond.

"The UN must ensure that the funding is focused on the poorest countries and most pressing needs. We are therefore giving flexibility for these funds to be used for key priorities in the fight against H1N1.

"The international community must now act quickly to put in place a mechanism for distributing vaccine, monitoring and reporting on funds provided for H1N1 and targeting to those in most need, particularly health workers, pregnant women and those vulnerable to H1N1 due to underlying health conditions."

Further information

• Swine flu - everything you need to know

• Vaccine priority for most at risk

• Swine flu - what the government is doing

• Treatment and prevention