Written Answers | International Development: Tuberculosis

Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department plans to take to promote implementation and delivery of (a) diagnostics, (b) drugs and (c) vaccines for tuberculosis.

Stephen O’Brien (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, International Development; Eddisbury, Conservative)

The coalition Government remain committed to supporting global efforts to halve tuberculosis deaths by 2015, as highlighted in ‘UK aid: Changing lives, delivering results’. In support of this objective, and to help to drive progress towards zero HIV infections and deaths by 2015, scaling-up access to tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis, treatment care and support is a strategic priority in the coalition Government’s recently launched ‘Towards zero infections: The UK‘s position paper on HIV in the developing world’.

We support prevention, diagnosis and treatment of TB through our bilateral and multilateral support. This is done particularly through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is the largest single provider of international funds to fight TB, including TB-HIV, and through supporting co-ordinated action through the Stop TB Partnership. We also invest in research and product development into more effective treatment and vaccines; we support countries to strengthen health systems to deliver quality TB programmes; and we work with our partners to tackle the risk factors for TB, including poverty and malnutrition.