| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
21 Feb 2005 : Column 379W—continued
Guyana
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance his Department is providing to (a) the Government of Guyana, (b) non-governmental organisations in Guyana and (c) multinational agencies and institutions assisting Guyana to deal with the aftermath of the flooding that occurred in Guyana in January 2005; and if he will make a statement. [216322]
Mr. Gareth Thomas:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney, North and Stoke Newington (Ms Abbott) on 7 February 2005, Official Report, column 1219W, and also to the written ministerial statement I made on 10 February 2005, Official Report, columns 91–93WS.
21 Feb 2005 : Column 380W
HIV/AIDS
Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment his Department has made of recent research into (a) the drug Nevirapine and (b) the consequences of that research for use of the drug in preventing HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to baby. [215964]
Hilary Benn: Nevirapine is one of the most cost-effective and clinically effective ways of preventing mother to child transmission of HIV. However, there have been concerns raised about the extent to which the use of the drug creates resistance. These issues will be discussed at a conference on Retrovirus and Opportunistic Infections in Boston in two weeks time.
DFID follows World Health Organisation guidelines on treatment for HIV positive mothers. The guidelines provide for a range of options, that take into account both clinical outcomes and practical considerations about health system capacity in each country, and the difficulties for women to adhere to more complicated treatment regimes.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will take steps to ensure that the EU's HIV/AIDS strategy in developing countries (a) gives priority to HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children, (b) adopts the Unicef-led framework for protection of these children and (c) allocates adequate resources to it. [215345]
Mr. Gareth Thomas: Along with other member states we are engaging in the consultation process towards a new Programme for Action on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis which the EC expects to adopt in 2006. The current Programme for Action does not sufficiently address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children and we will consider how best to address this gap in the forthcoming consultations.
Last July, DFID was one of the first bilateral development agencies, along with Danish International Development Agency (DANI DA) and USAID, to endorse the UNAIDS/UNICEF Framework for the protection, care and support of orphans and vulnerable children living in a world with HIV/AIDS. Since then we have taken every opportunity to promote its use with governments and other organisations working to provide protection, care and support to children affected by AIDS. This includes children living with HIV and AIDS.
We will use our Presidencies of the G8 and the EU to increase action on AIDS and will encourage those member states who have not yet endorsed the framework to do so. Committing resources to implement the framework for the protection, care and support of orphans and vulnerable children through national plans is key to this.
Responding to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children needs to be part of the larger picture of the AIDS response. By the end of 2005, we want to have agreement among donors and the international system on a well coordinated and funded plan to tackle AIDS which will include support for the protection, care and support of orphans and vulnerable children.
21 Feb 2005 : Column 381W
Hurricane Ivan
John Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the differences between pledges made by the international community of donations to assist with recovery from Hurricane Ivan and the amounts raised. [216602]
Mr. Gareth Thomas: Officials from the Department for International Development (DFID) are in constant contact with the other major donors, and receive regular updates on commitments and disbursements. Thus far, the Government of Grenada have received considerable commitments from the international donor community to provide reconstruction and recovery assistance. At the 19 November 2004 Second Donor Conference on Grenada, the World Bank reported that the total commitments were in the order of £105 million. However, this remains a fluid situation, and additional monies have also been pledged from non-traditional donors such as Taiwan and Venezuela.
DFID is leading on the development of a single donor framework for monitoring and reporting on finances and implementation progress. This will reduce the burden on the Government of Grenada to fulfil a number of different reporting requirements. It will also provide a clearer picture of donor commitments and disbursements, allowing the Government to plan better their reconstruction programme.
The UK Government have provided nearly £7.1 million of additional support to Grenada since the hurricane, as represented in the following table. On 18 October, the Secretary of State for International Development announced the provision of £5.5 million worth of emergency budgetary support to the Government of Grenada in order to help meet their wage and salaries bill in the last quarter of 2004. This budgetary support was released to the Government at the beginning of January 2005 while emergency response contributions were released immediately after the hurricane hit Grenada.
Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance is being provided by his Department to (a) Grenada, (b) the Cayman Islands and (c) the Caribbean region as a result of Hurricane Ivan; and if he will make a statement. [216656]
Mr. Gareth Thomas:
In response to the disaster caused in the Caribbean by Hurricane Ivan, the Government have provided both immediate emergency
21 Feb 2005 : Column 382W
assistance and additional development assistance totalling some £8.6 million. Most of this has been delivered by the Department for International Development (DFID), and has included:
We have also changed our ongoing programmes in Public Sector Reform, Education and Micro-Finance to take account of the disaster in Grenada. We are funding a surveyor and architect to assess the damage and re-building options for the Grenadian Parliament and the Governor-General's House; jointly with the United States Agency for International Development, we are providing a team of debt advisers to help the Government of Grenada restructure the total stock of Grenada's debt; and funding a Forestry specialist to advise on reforestation, which will help prevent landslides and provide some protection for the water table. We are also co-ordinating design work for a harmonised donor approach to monitoring and reporting which will reduce the Government's need to respond to a number of different reporting requirements. DFID continues to remain engaged in this process as the international community works together to assist Grenada rebuild its economy.
Other UK Government Departments played a vital role in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. HMS Richmond and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Wave Ruler provided immediate emergency medical help and clean-up support. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office funded urgent repairs to the prison.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan, the Government provided emergency relief supplies and a contribution to the clean-up operations, worth about £230,000 in total, to the Cayman Islands. In addition, DFID's Disaster Management Adviser visited Grand Cayman to offer advice. The Government remains engaged.
Other assistance in the region included £940,699 to Jamaica, £50,000 to Cuba and £304,560 to the Bahamas. A further £50,000 worth of assistance to the region was provided through the Pan American Health Organisation.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |