Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the (a) effect of growing resistance to drugs and insecticides in developing countries and (b) new scientific tools required to improve prevention and treatment of malaria.

Tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a UK government priority. Lord O’Neill’s AMR review, published in May 2016, sets out the scale of the global challenge, including in developing countries. Insecticide and drug resistance pose a real threat to the recent progress seen on malaria. DFID supports developing new drugs and new insecticides, in response to current levels of resistance. We also support drug management programmes that decrease the chances of resistance building up, and other measures of tackling malaria, such as the use of bednets.