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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

HIV/AIDS

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what research he has commissioned on microbicide creams to prevent the spread of HIV. [166839]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has been an early and leading bilateral supporter of work on microbicides, spending nearly £18 million to date. DFID has committed a grant of £16 million over five years (2001–06) for the   Microbicide Development Programme, which is coordinated by the Clinical Trials Unit of the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), and Imperial College London. The programme is implementing research studies to investigate the effectiveness of promising microbicide products, involving research centres in five African countries. DFID also provides support to the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) to accelerate the discovery, development and accessibility of microbicides, and International Family Health (IFH) and the Population Council to develop policy dialogue, advocacy and networking around microbicides development and access.

DFID supported and jointly chaired the international Microbicides 2004 conference, which was held in London, 28 March to 1 April 2004. It was an important opportunity for scientists and advocates to share information on the progress of microbicide development. We will launch our new HIV/AIDS Strategy later this year. In it we will set how we will work together with partners in developed and
 
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developing countries to drive forward research into new   technologies to prevent HIV/AIDS, including microbicides and vaccines.

Consultancy Fees

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been spent on consultancy fees by his Department in each of the last three years. [167648]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Expenditure on consultancy services in each of the last five years is recorded in the "Statistics on International Development", Table 12. A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House.

Democratic Republic of Congo

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps are being taken to determine the number of unexploded land mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [167815]

Hilary Benn: In 2003, the United Nations Mine Action Service established the United Nations Mine Action Co-ordination Centre (UNMACC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UNMACC is now undertaking local surveys to determine the extent of the land mine problem in the Congo and providing expertise for the coordination of assistance to tackle the problem. In 2003, DFID provided a sum of £65,333 via its global grant to UNMAS to help fund these activities.

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the humanitarian requirements of those Congolese nationals expelled from Angola and living in the Bandundu and Kasai-Occidental provinces of Democratic Republic of Congo; and if he will make a statement. [167820]

Hilary Benn: The humanitarian needs of Congolese expelled from Angola continue to be of concern. As of 20 April, some 67,000 Congolese have been registered by local crisis committees in Bandundu and Western Kasai Provinces. The Office for the Co-Ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) led an inter-agency mission on 19 April to Tshikapa in Western Kasai Province. Mission participants included the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Office Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), OCHA, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Caritas and representatives from the Congolese Ministries of Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs and of the Interior. A number of Humanitarian NGO and United Nations partners are currently responding and DFID is monitoring the situation.

Demography

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the implications for global development assistance of current UN projections for world population in (a) 2100 and (b) 2150. [167206]


 
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Mr. Gareth Thomas: Many assessments of world population only stretch as far as 2050, and DFID's development assistance policy is largely geared towards 2015, the target for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the UN's Population Division has carried out a series of long-range population projections at regional level with a time horizon of 2150. These projections include assessments of   possible future fertility, mortality and migration scenarios.

It is difficult to state the implications of these projections on global development assistance because the high, medium and low scenarios result in projections of very different sizes. According to the medium scenario, the world population will have stabilised at 9.7 billion by 2050. The low scenario indicates that population will drop to 3.2 billion by 2150 and the high scenario indicates a rise to 24.8 billion by the same year.

The substantial differences in these scenarios make it very difficult to base any firm development assistance plans on long-range population projections. In the meantime DFID will focus our efforts on achieving the MDGs by 2015 and will then continue to consider the scale of poverty and population projections before setting targets for future milestones.

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assumptions about population inform his Department's country plan for Ethiopia. [167207]

Hilary Benn: DFID Ethiopia's country assistance plan is based on the Government of Ethiopia's Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Programme (SDPRP). On the basis of current population growth rates, Ethiopia's population will reach 73 million by 2005.

The SDPRP recognizes that population plays a decisive role in national development. Through the National Population Policy (1993), the Government seeks to maintain a balance between population size and the resource base through, in part, heightened availability and use of contraceptives. A key focus to achieve this is through increasing girls' access to education.

While DFID does not provide specific sector support to the population programme, in 2003–04 we provided £3 million to the education sector specifically and £30 million for the implementation of the SDPRP.

EU Development Assistance

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will list the non-governmental organisations involved in the delivery of the 2002 EU development assistance projects to (a) Cuba, (b) the Dominican Republic and (c) Haiti. [167213]

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The following is a list of the non-governmental organisations with active contracts for development assistance projects with the EU in Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti during 2002.

(a) Cuba


 
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(b) Dominican Republic

(c) Haiti

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