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Malaria
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to make anti-malaria drugs available (a) cheaply and (b) in sufficient quantities to African countries seriously affected by the disease. [112535]
Hilary Benn: The World Health Organization recognises for diseases prevalent in poor countries—including AIDS, TB and Malaria—four key factors that can improve access to medicines: affordable pricing, sustainable financing, reliable health and supply systems, and the rational selection of drugs.
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Availability of affordable medicines was one of a number of issues my right hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Clare Short) looked into when she chaired a recent High Level Working Group on increasing Access to Essential Medicines in the developing world. DFID is firmly committed to increasing access to medicines for the poorest, in line with the WHO strategy. For example, we have committed over £1.5 billion since 1997 to support the strengthening of health systems, which will build capacity to deliver medicines to the poor and to make effective choices about the selection of drugs.
DFID is currently working with a number of key stakeholders, including the Pharmaceutical industry, for an integrated approach to increasing access to medicines for the poor, including tackling affordability. This will focus on the major diseases of the poor including Malaria.
The UK has committed over $200 million over five years to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria for the procurement of drugs and commodities and some associated strengthening of health systems. We have already disbursed $80 million to the fund.
The UK is strongly committed to tackling Malaria, recognising its importance not just in terms of burden of disease, but also in terms of the impact Malaria has on economic development, particularly in Africa where this has been an increasing problem. The UK Government are committed to the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goal to halt, and begin to reverse the incidence of Malaria by 2015. At the 1998 G8 summit in Birmingham the UK Government pledged £60 million to support action on Malaria, and financial commitments since then have far exceeded this figure. To date the UK has provided in excess of £110 million to support Malaria control globally and at country-level. This includes a contribution to basic Malaria support through the Medical Research Council (MRC) and support to the Malaria Consortium resource centre. We are supporting the development of new drugs appropriate for developing countries through partnerships such as the Medicines for Malaria Venture and programmes that help find new low-cost Malaria treatments, for example Lapdap.
Malawi
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list the amounts of financial aid given to Malawi over the last 12 months; and when they were given. [111916]
Hilary Benn: During the financial year 2002–03, DFID spent a total of £51.7 million in development assistance to Malawi. Of this £19.3 was financial aid, which was administered directly by the Government of Malawi. Financial aid was disbursed regularly throughout the year in a number of key areas, notably in the education and health sectors where funds were used to build education and medical facilities as well as supplying drugs.
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Mental Health
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many of her staff retired on medical grounds due to mental health problems in the last year. [111960]
Hilary Benn: Given the very small numbers of staff who retired on mental health grounds the identity of individuals may become obvious should this question be answered.
Exemption 12 (Privacy of an individual) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, therefore, applies.
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development (1) how many sick days were lost in the last year by her Department through staff mental health problems; [111996]
- (2) how many of her staff have taken sick leave due to mental health problems in the last year. [111982]
Hilary Benn: This information is not centrally recorded and could be collected only at disproportionate cost.
DFID is committed to managing sickness absence effectively and to meeting the target in our Public Service Agreement.
Philippines
Mr. Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what aid and assistance she has provided to the government of the Philippines in the last three years. [112607]
Hilary Benn: DFID has not provided direct bilateral aid to the Philippines since 1996, although £184,000 is provided through our Small Grants Scheme (SGS). This is administered by the British Embassy in Manila and is intended for small scale interventions. Indirect support is provided through our contributions to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, EC and UN development agencies.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment her Department has made of the potential consequences of an outbreak of SARS in Sub-Saharan Africa. [112734]
Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development has not made any specific assessment of the potential consequences of an outbreak of SARS in Sub-Saharan Africa. We look to the World Health Organization to provide a technical lead on this issue.
South Africa
Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what programmes she supports which aim to prevent South African children becoming infected with HIV through the use of dirty needles. [112539]
Hilary Benn: In November 2002, the findings of a study commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation (with funding from DFID) reported higher than expected rates of HIV infection among children in
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South Africa. The causes are still being investigated, but there is no concrete evidence linking the higher infection rates to the use of dirty needles.
DFID has recently approved a new 30m programme to help South Africa tackle HIV/AIDS. This includes further support for the Nelson Mandela Foundation to enable a repeat of the 2002 study to be undertaken.
Sri Lanka
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many scholarships have been awarded to Sri Lankan students to study in the United Kingdom in the last year for which figures are available. [112173]
Hilary Benn: Figures for students undertaking scholarships funded by the Government of the United Kingdom with time spent in the United Kingdom in 2002–03 are as follows:
- Primary English Language Project: 15 students funded to undertake short-term teacher training and English language courses under the Regent Language Centre, London.
Primary Mathematics Unit: 20 students undertaking courses which have three month attachments in the UK incorporated into the course framework; 15 MEd Students under the University of Sussex and five studying under the University of the West of England.
Chevening Scholarships: Three fully funded, two part funded and two joint funded students.
Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows: 10 Commonwealth fellowships and nine Commonwealth scholarships covering PhDs, MScs, MPhils and research studies.
Hilary Benn: Approximately 2–3 per cent. of the age cohort attend higher education institutes in Sri Lanka. In 2002–03 218,000 students sat A-levels of which 11,514 were selected for entry into tertiary education institutions issues.
DFID is not able to obtain details of the total number of students from Sri Lanka going on to university in the UK. However, details of students financed by DFID are provided in my answer to your parliamentary question ref. 112173.
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid was given to the education sector in Sri Lanka for (a) primary education, (b) secondary education, (c) higher education and (d) vocational training in each year since 1997. [112175]
Hilary Benn: Available statistics on Sri Lanka by education sector code, from 1998–99, are as follows:
| Education policy | Education facilities | Advance technical | Primary | Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 204 | 33 | 301 | 1,181 | 1,719 |
| 1999–2000 | 169 | 30 | -43 | 1,410 | 1,567 |
| 2000–01 | 223 | 50 | 0 | 1,259 | 1,532 |
| 2001–02 | 137 | 83 | 0 | 1,334 | 1,555 |
| 2002–03(15) | (15)166 | (15)154 | (15)0 | (15)938 | (15)1,258 |
(15) figures for 2002–03 provisional
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