How and Whether to, Assist Poorer Countries

 This is a topic which is difficult  personally to resolve.  

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the new director of the World Health Organisation has  firmly requested that developed countries do not harbour the Covid-19 vaccines for themselves but share with poorer countries now, without first waiting for their own populations to be fully vaccinated.

Sharing with  poorer countries is surely right in principle but when? I am not sure that WHO is correct in saying that now is the time. The UK for example has borrowed  billions of pounds to cope with the pandemic, including developing anti-Covid-19 drugs. The country has promised to provide many  vaccines to third world countries. Given  that firstly,   its own  huge financial borrowings (consequent upon the pandemic) are now at a level not seen since WWII and secondly,   only about a quarter of its own population has so far been vaccinated, I am not sure that the government is wrong to wait until the summer before distributing vaccines elsewhere.

There is also the question of the effectiveness of some of the vaccines against some of the variants in the pandemic. 

The vaccines all cope with original Chinese version but there are questions about some of their effectiveness against  new variants  with the South Africans even requesting that the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine be returned on the grounds of its ineffectiveness  against he South African variant. Who knows?

As to assistance for poorer countries more generally; I do believe that we should radically review UK overseas aid. Countries such as Guatemala, where several volcanoes have been reported as erupting with  tragic loss of life, should be supported with personnel and money. Likewise countries affected by other natural disasters such as tsunamis should be assisted.

Nonetheless, India is fast becoming a wealthy country; China is already hugely wealthy and in my view such nations should not  these days, receive any UK aid cash. On the other hand, Zimbabwe is a country where the UK assistance should have been involved with aid, far earlier,  maybe soon after  its independence.

In Europe, Germany took it upon itself without consulting other members of the EU, which included the UK the time, to encourage a million refugees to enter Germany by crossing European countries. Now the flow of such refugees is almost impossible humanely to halt. Paying Turkey to contain them as the EU is doing, seems wrong to me though what should be done instead I cannot say

More controversially; I see little point in providing aid to countries which have ongoing civil wars, with which the UK is not involved. Iraq is an an obvious exception as many governments in the West  including the UK, became involved there; likewise Afghanistan where also the Taliban and others were and it may be said are still, dreadfully oppressing the female half of the human race. 

However if North and South Sudan are involved in a civil war with which the UK is not involved, should the UK  be providing support there even through  Covid-19 vaccinations?

Thankfully politicians rather than I have to answer such questions.