Official Development Assistance

Lord Herbert of South Downs Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Herbert of South Downs (Con)]

My Lords, in the two minutes I have been allotted, another four people globally will die from tuberculosis. That is 1.25 million people a year. It is the world’s deadliest disease and still exacts this terrible toll, quite unnecessarily.

For 20 years, I have been campaigning to draw attention to the problem of TB and our continuing failure to beat the disease, the last 10 of which as chair of the Global TB Caucus. It would be easy to be despondent because of the fiscal headwinds, of which we have heard much already, and the reductions in overseas development spending, not just by this Government but by others, notably the United States. Yet I find myself being more optimistic than I have been for some time that we could finally beat this disease, because of the advent of innovative new treatments, new technology, and, at last, the prospect of a vaccine in sight, which does not exist for adults.

I simply implore the Government to recognise that they still have the power to help end this disease, in spite of the reductions in funding, which are simply a fact at the moment. They have the ability to convene, both at ministerial level and at the level of their missions. They could say something about this issue on World TB Day. They could say more about how the vaccine could be rolled out when it becomes available. They could continue to support cost-effective programmes, such as TB REACH, that find innovative new solutions to beat this disease. We cannot just fall prey to counsels of despair. There is much that the Government can still do, and I would be grateful for the opportunity to write to the Minister about that. Perhaps she might be willing to meet to discuss those ideas.