UK government axes flagship global health project
UK government axes flagship global health project
Programme which supports schemes in six African countries was previously hailed as vital protection for Britain against future pandemics
A flagship health project in Africa, which UK ministers said would play a vital role in protecting Britain from future pandemic threats, is being axed due to aid cuts, the Guardian can reveal.
The Global Health Workforce Programme (GHWP) which supported development and training for healthcare staff in six African countries, will close at the end of the month, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
“That is a genuinely historic decision, and the UK now risks ceding ground in global health that we will struggle to recover,” said Ben Simms, chief executive of Global Health Partnerships, which ran the programme.
Since its launch, the GHWP has been highlighted by ministers and officials as an effort to boost global pandemic preparedness by strengthening national health systems, and a way to meet the UK’s moral obligations to invest in countries from which it recruits large numbers of staff for the NHS and social care.
Similar programmes have run since 2008. The current scheme involved projects in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi and Somaliland. Its current three-year contract was due to end this month, but had been expected to be renewed, as with previous iterations.
Renewing funding in 2023, under Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, then health minister Will Quince said: “This funding aims to make a real difference in strengthening the performance of health systems in each of the participating countries, which will have a knock-on effect on boosting global pandemic preparedness and reducing health inequalities. The pandemic showed us that patients in the UK are not safe unless the world as a whole is resilient against health threats.”
In one project, the Power for the People Africa Trust is funded through the programme to train staff to tackle gender-based violence and reduce linked teenage pregnancies and HIV infections in Kenya’s Homa Bay county.
Caren Okombo of the trust said gains would reverse if funding stopped, adding: “New HIV infections in Homa Bay today: at some point these infections would cross borders. They would get to [Britain’s] population as well. So stopping them from where they start is something that should be of importance to a country like Britain.”
However, the Labour government announced last year that it would reduce overseas aid funding from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP in order to boost military spending. That followed an earlier cut under Boris Johnson’s premiership from 0.7%.
The GHWP cut was revealed in a written answer to a parliamentary question asked by former development minister Sir Andrew Mitchell.
FCDO minister Chris Elmore said the GHWP would close at the end of March.
He said: “The UK should be proud of the progress made in international development this century. But the world has changed, and so must we. With less money, we must make choices and focus on greater impact.”
Elmore said efforts were being made “to ensure the sustainability of projects beyond the programme’s lifetime” and that the government “remains committed to international development and will continue to support countries to build resilient, sustainable health systems”.
A review by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) published this week found that the system for allocating official development assistance budgets in recent years was “not always based on shared strategic priorities or evidence of value for money”.
In a statement, Global Health Partnerships said: “We understand the fiscal pressures that the government faces, but we are clear that cutting investment in health workforce development in low- and middle-income countries has real human consequences – and ultimately costs more in the long run.”
Partnerships could not survive on goodwill alone, they added. “They require sustained investment and institutional commitment and once that thread is cut, it is very difficult to pick it back up.”
The FCDO was approached for comment.
"All the Empty Rooms" wins Oscar for Steve Hartman's project memorializing children killed in school shootings
March 15, 2026 / 10:49 PM EDT / CBS News
The documentary "All the Empty Rooms," which memorialized children killed in school shootings through a look at the bedrooms they never returned to, took home the Oscar for Best Documentary Short at the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday.
The film follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp along their seven-year journey to document the toll of America's school shooting epidemic. Director Joshua Seftel accepted the Oscar on stage alongside Hartman, producer Conall Jones and Gloria Cazares, whose daughter Jackie was killed in the Uvalde school shooting in 2022.
"The four empty rooms in our film belonged to four young children who were all killed in school shootings: Hallie, Gracie, Dominic and Jackie," Seftel told the crowd before passing the mic to Cazares.
Wearing red dress and a pin with an image of Jackie, Cazares spoke of her 9-year-old daughter and appealed for an end to gun violence.
"Since that day, her bedroom has been frozen in time," Cazares said. "Jackie is more than just a headline. She is our light and our life. Gun violence is now the number one cause of death in kids and teens. We believe that if the world could see their empty bedrooms, we'd be a different America."
When Hartman traveled to Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, Cazares told him that people are always telling her that they can't imagine what she's going through. But she said we need to imagine, and that's why she invited Hartman and Bopp into her home.
"It just makes everything more real for the public, for the world," Carazes said at the time. "Her room completely just speaks of who she was."
In Jackie's room, there was the chocolate she had saved for a day that never came, and an "About Me" chalkboard where she wrote that she wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up.
Many of the children's rooms, like Jackie's, remained virtually untouched, years after the shootings.
"Their personalities shone through in the smallest details of their untouched rooms — hair ties on a doorknob, a toothpaste tube left uncapped, a ripped ticket for a school event — allowing me to uncover glimpses as to who they were," Bopp said in an essay about the project in 2024.
Explore the rooms:
Unmade beds and overdue books: Photographing the rooms of kids killed in school shootings
More from CBS "Sunday Morning":
Standing on the threshold of grief, documenting the bedrooms of kids killed in school shootings
Missed watching the 2026 Oscars? Here's how to watch the awards show now.
Updated on: March 15, 2026 / 10:59 PM EDT / CBS News
"Sinners" came into the 2026 Oscars with the most nominations ever, 16, but it was "One Battle After Another" that took home marquee awards like Best Picture and Best Director on Sunday night. Here's how to watch and what to know about the 98th annual Academy Awards.
Where to watch the Oscars with cable
The 98th annual Academy Awards were broadcast live on ABC stations, as well as on international networks worldwide, on Sunday, March 15, 2026.
How to stream the Oscars
The Oscars streamed live on Hulu and was available live on ABC.com and the ABC app if those services were connected to your regular TV provider. Other streaming services like YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV also carried the show.
The Oscars will be available to stream Monday on ABC.com and Hulu for those who missed it live.
Who were the Oscar nominees?
"Sinners" was eyeing a big night after nabbing a record-breaking 16 nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor. Michael B. Jordan brought home the golden statue for taking on the dual roles of twin brothers Smoke and Stack, and Autumn Durald Arkapaw won for Best Cinematography, the first woman to win the award in Oscar history.
"One Battle After Another" was also up for a slew of top awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, the first Oscar wins for Paul Thomas Anderson after being nominated 11 times prior to this year's ceremony.
See the full list of winners and nominees here.
Go behind the scenes to see excerpts of performances and highlights of CBS News interviews with nominees in these top categories:
- Best Picture
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
Who hosted the Oscars?
Former late-night TV host Conan O'Brien handled hosting duties at the Academy Awards for a second straight year.
O'Brien took over as master of ceremonies for the show last year following a two-year stint from fellow comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who has hosted the Oscars a total of four times.
Matt Berry, the star of TV shows such as "The IT Crowd," "What We Do in the Shadows" and "Toast of London," was the announcer for the Oscars this year.
Where were the Oscars held?
The 2026 Oscars were held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
