Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking steps to help ensure British research and technical experience in tackling (a) malaria and (b) other global diseases is deployed in countries where those diseases are endemic.

The UK is a global leader in research on tackling malaria and other global diseases, with wide-ranging expertise across the UK academic, public and private sectors. For example, the world's first World Health Organisation approved malaria vaccine was developed by a British company, GlaxoSmithKline, and the new R21 malaria vaccine has been developed by Oxford University's Jenner Institute.

The Government continues to support the deployment of UK expertise though further investments in research and development. This includes the University of Oxford and the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit's trial on a new combination therapy for drug-resistant malaria, and the Innovative Vector Control Consortium, established by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, including their novel class of bed-nets which kill mosquitoes resistant to traditional insecticides.

The UK also provides support to multilateral institutions such as GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria to deliver life-saving interventions to disease-endemic countries.