Lord Trees, professor of veterinary parasitology and a crossbench member of the House of Lords, has contributed to the debate on the ODA cuts and their devastating effects on research and health interventions around the world, in the Queens Speech debate on Foreign Affairs in the UK Parliament’s House of Lords.

In his speech he mentioned the scale and effects of the cuts on the Hub’s work:

“Regarding research, the ODA support to UKRI and the global challenges research fund has been immediately cut by £120 million, which is nearly half the previously committed amount. Among many affected projects is the world-class research led by the Royal Veterinary College in London through the One Health Poultry Hub: a £20 million programme involving 27 institutions in 10 countries. This focuses on infectious zoonotic disease and antimicrobial resistance in poultry in Asia. It faces a 67% cut in its budget. However, we know that the next pandemic in humans is very likely to arise from animals, very possibly from poultry and very possibly in Asia.”

Watch the video recording and read the Hansard transcript of Lord Trees’ contribution.