Asked by: Baroness Suttie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of public investments in research and development towards delivering the targets set out in Sustainable Development Goal 3 on health.
Answered by Baroness Sugg
Public investments in research and development have had significant impact across a range of diseases and have contributed to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3. For instance, UK support has been instrumental in the development of Coartem Dispersible, a child-friendly antimalarial drug. More than 390 million treatments of this life-saving drug have been delivered to over 50 countries since its launch in 2009. This is very likely to have helped reduce the number of deaths from malaria. DFID support also enabled the development of the first paediatric tuberculosis (TB) medicine, which is now available in 93 countries that account for 75% of the global paediatric TB burden.
Asked by: Baroness Suttie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of the $6 billion pledged at the Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in London on 4 February has now been (1) delivered, and (2) dispersed in the recipient countries; and what plans there are to achieve further financial support, particularly for under-funded areas, such as the UN-coordinated humanitarian inter-agency appeals.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Department for International Development has set up a tracking mechanism that will report on the delivery of all the financial commitments made at the February 2016 Supporting Syria and the Region Conference in London, including humanitarian and development funding and loans. As of 21 September 2016, of the $6 billion grants pledged for 2016 at the Conference, donors had committed $6.3 billion and delivered $4.7 billion.
The UK continues to work with other London Conference co-hosts to urge donors to deliver on the commitments they made in London and to consider what more can be done to meet the funding gaps of the UN appeals. This was discussed at the UN General Assembly in New York in September, where the Secretary of State for International Development co-chaired a Conference follow up event.
Asked by: Baroness Suttie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much private sector investment has been secured to tackle malaria as part of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Answered by Lord Bates
The Secretary of State recently announced a UK investment of £1.1 billion over three years in the Global Fund at their replenishment conference in September. This includes a commitment to double private sector contributions for tackling malaria, up to a maximum of £200 million.
At the conference, an additional $100million (USD) of investment was raised from the private sector to specifically tackle malaria and further investment will be raised in the coming year.
Asked by: Baroness Suttie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of Libyan refugees currently residing in Tunisia.
Answered by Baroness Verma
Since 2014, UNHCR has co-ordinated inter-agency efforts to prepare for a possible influx of refugees and asylum-seekers from Libya, at the request of the Tunisian government and in close cooperation with UN agencies and partners. Its most recent assessment reported that there were 928 people of concern residing in Tunisia, mostly from Syria.
Asked by: Baroness Suttie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are committed to the introduction of a universal Hepatitis B vaccination programme, as recommended by the World Health Organisation, in order to support the international community's effort to control worldwide transmission of the disease.
Answered by Baroness Verma
The UK is fully committed to the introduction of Hepatitis B vaccination programmes, as recommended by the World Health Organisation, and funds these in developing countries through our investment in Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Gavi delivers life-saving vaccine programmes in 73 of the world’s poorest countries. Gavi provides protection against Hepatitis B through the pentavalent vaccine, which has been introduced and scaled up in all 73 of these countries.
The UK is a firm and longstanding supporter of Gavi and as its largest donor will provide £1.44 billion from 2016 to 2020, which will save 1.4 million lives.