Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support her Department provides to help tackle Tuberculosis throughout the world.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK is a global leader in tackling TB and is currently the second largest investor in the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria, providing £1.2 billion in the 5th replenishment (2017 – 2019). The Global Fund helped to treat 5 million people for TB in 2017. The UK has significant investments through health multilaterals such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), which provides technical leadership on tackling TB and strengthening health systems. We also invest in Unitaid, which is supporting the introduction of new drug-resistant TB drugs and the development of new paediatric TB medicines for children in some of the world’s poorest countries.
We also fund research and product development into more effective diagnosis and treatment and we support countries to strengthen health systems that can deliver quality TB programmes.
The UK Government also pushes for global action on TB through the G7 and G20 and our work with the WHO, Global Fund and other key institutions.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to meet commitments made at the 2018 UN High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK helped to develop the political declaration agreed at the UNGA 2018 High-Level Meeting on TB. The UK is now working with other Member States to develop an accountability framework to ensure that momentum is maintained and to hold all countries which signed the political declaration to account.
DFID is focused on supporting low income countries to achieve these commitments. As the second largest donor to the Global Fund, we invest significantly in TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment. We invest in research to develop new tools to tackle TB, including diagnostics and treatments targeted at drug resistant TB. We also support countries to strengthen health systems that can deliver quality TB programmes.
Asked by: Ellie Reeves (Labour - Lewisham West and East Dulwich)
Question to the Department for International Development:
What steps she is taking to promote universal access to free public education and health systems in developing and partner countries.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK supports countries working toward free access to life-saving and life-changing health and education services for the most marginalised people. We do this through a combination of bilateral and multilateral interventions, focusing on strengthening overall health and education systems.