Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 9 November 2021.
First of all, I'm delighted that Jenipher Sambazi has gone to Glasgow to put the views of Ugandans to COP. I just hope she's still there when I get there tomorrow night, because she is completely amazing, as those of us who were privileged to meet her before the pandemic—and just a wonderful advocate for her community and the work they're doing.
But I'm still trying to process the information that you have shared with us about the vaccines, because I raised this with the health Minister a few months ago, and I was assured, or I was given the impression that all the AstraZeneca that we had previously used in Wales was now going to go to Africa, which seemed to me entirely the right place for it. So, are we saying that the UK Government has actually banned the use of the vaccines that we might have used in Wales that we had decided should go to Africa? Because it really is a very, very uncomfortable situation, I feel, in myself, having had a booster last week, when I read that only 2 per cent of people in Kenya have had a vaccine, and that would include, therefore, health workers who are trying to look after people with COVID not being protected in any way. So, this is just the most uncomfortable situation, which really just highlights the very unequal world we all live in. So, this is completely unacceptable, and where is the media on telling everybody about this? Hello, guys, you really do need to be promoting this; this is a really, really important issue. If the UK Government is refusing to act, then they need to be required to speak on why they're refusing to act.
A couple of specific questions: you talk about the menstrual products that Teams4U are sending to Africa, and I just wondered if you could tell us whether these are reusable menstrual products, because reusable menstrual products are an essential ingredient of ensuring that girls stay in school once they reach puberty. But I accept that if you haven't got clean running water, you're going to have to use disposables, with all the problems that they cause about disposal. So, it seems to me that—. I spoke about this to Jenipher Sambazi two years ago, and we need to ensure that all the communities that we're working with in Africa have access to reusable menstrual products that they are making themselves. It's not rocket science: people just need the basic design and how to do it and the materials in order to do it, but it's a fantastically important feminist issue.
On tree planting, how is our tree-planting programme diversifying diets, because coffee is a useful export crop, but it's not the basis for a healthy, varied diet? Therefore, it seems to me that if we are profiting from the wonderful Ugandan coffee, we need to be ensuring that there are other products that reinforce the health and well-being of the communities that make them for us.
And I think that may be the last thing that I had. Thank you very much for your statement. I think this is a really important issue. I think, on the booster programme, we clearly collectively need to shout out loud that it is completely unacceptable that the UK Government has not stepped up to the plate on this important issue. Not only do they cut everything that DFID was famous for in providing really good development aid, but they just absorb it into the foreign office to promote the union jack. It is a total disaster.