Written Answers | International Development: Tuberculosis

Andrew George (St Ives, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department has taken to help reduce stigma and discrimination in respect of tuberculosis in developing countries.

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

It is crucial that we work with others to address stigma, discrimination and the exclusion of key populations. These are barriers which hamper people from accessing life saving prevention and treatment. The coalition Government work to address these barriers through our bilateral and multilateral support to combat tuberculosis (TB). For example, in advance of its 11th funding round, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), which is the largest single provider of international funds to fight TB, issued guidance on taking a rights based approach to the design of TB programmes. It also recommends that countries specifically consider activities and programmes to reduce stigma and discrimination in their TB proposals.