Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential steps the Government can take to support (a) new (i) prevention methods, (ii) vaccines and (iii) point-of-care diagnostics and (b) other areas of research and innovation related to global HIV interventions.

FCDO supports research and market shaping initiatives into new, innovative HIV commodities to improve their development, access and affordability. We have invested around £400 million in innovative research through our Product Development Partnerships, and our commitments to MedAccess, Unitaid and CHAI support access to innovations. For example, FCDO funding for the International Partnership on Microbicides supported the development the dapivirine ring, the first long-acting HIV prevention product to help address women's unmet need for new methods of HIV-prevention. Furthermore, our catalytic funding to MedAccess- an innovative social financing company for healthcare products- has led to the development of HIV-syphillis dual tests, and to securing HIV self-tests at a historic price of $1.