§ 2. Mr. Andrew Robathan (Blaby)What assessment she has made of the extent of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. [115430]
§ The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)AIDS is now the biggest killer in Africa: 14 million Africans have died as a result of the infection, and nearly 4 million died last year alone. In the worst-affected countries, one in four adults is infected. The impacts are reversing development gains made over the past 30 years. Life expectancy is dropping. Gains in child survival are being reversed, and the limited pool of skilled workers is being decimated. By the end of this year, 10.4 million African children will have lost their mothers, or both parents, to AIDS.
The Government are committed to intensifying our work, alongside UNAIDS in Africa. We are spending £20 million a year, and our commitment will grow.
§ Mr. RobathanI pay tribute to the Department's work in this matter. The world focused on the tragic floods in Mozambique, which killed some 5,000 people, but over the next five years some 4 million Mozambicans will die from AIDS, as that is the approximate number of people there who are infected with HIV. The problem is so enormous that it dwarfs all the others facing sub-Saharan Africa. Unless the HIV-AIDS problem is sorted out, there can be no further development in the area, so will the Secretary of State review her priorities for aid there?
§ Clare ShortThe hon. Gentleman is right, but the problem is worse than he described, as 4 million people died of AIDS in Africa last year. This is an incredible crisis and a major priority for the Department. The good news is that such Governments as those in Senegal and Uganda, who have given it priority and who have mounted really honest and open campaigns, have stemmed the tide when it comes to the growth of the infection. We must get other countries to adopt the same courageous leadership, backed up by the international community. Half the cases of new infection involved young people, and more than half of those were young 325 women, many of whom did not consent to sexual relations. They must be given the strength to be able to refuse and protect themselves.
§ Mr. Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow)Does my right hon. Friend share my concerns about some recent statements by South Africa's President Mbeki and the impact that they might have on prevention work and on people's access to treatments in that country? Will she take every opportunity to raise the matter with the Government of South Africa?
Will my right hon. Friend also try to persuade the pharmaceutical companies that they should do what they can to ensure that treatments are available that are within the budgets of South Africa and other African countries? Last year, the companies tried to prevent the manufacture of generic drugs, which gave the impression that they were worried only about profit and certainly contributed to the suspicions aired by President Mbeki.
§ Clare ShortI have read the reports of what President Mbeki is supposed to have said, and they are rather worrying. However, I met the South African Health Minister last week in The Hague, and she said that the reports did not accurately portray her Government's position. As my hon. Friend will know, the infection is growing and spreading in South Africa very seriously indeed. We are doing all that we can to work with the South African Government and to ensure that action is taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
President Mbeki is right: HIV-AIDS spreads where there is untreated sexually transmitted disease, so it tends to spread more rapidly among poor people. They need other treatment to help them prevent the spread.
As my hon. Friend knows, we are helping to fund research into injections to vaccinate people against HIV. Anti-retro viral treatment is much more difficult—it is so expensive that if 25 per cent. of the people in Malawi had it, that would cost nearly 100 per cent. of the gross domestic product. Therefore, such treatment is not practical for most of Africa. However, better treatment for tuberculosis is available, and that will give a lot of comfort and help.
§ Mr. Bowen Wells (Hertford and Stortford)Does the Secretary of State agree that it is the duty and responsibility of employers in the public and private sectors—particularly the private sector—to take measures to educate their work force on how to manage the problem of HIV-AIDS and the associated illnesses? Is that not the way to begin to reduce the number infected?
§ Clare ShortThe hon. Gentleman is right. The more forward-looking employers are doing that. Something like one third of teachers have the infection in many countries that have a grave shortage of teachers. It is also spread by the armed forces, which tend to move around with the infection. There must be more education in schools. We must protect young people so that the next generation does not become infected. Everyone, including the armed forces and employers, must take the problem more seriously.
§ Mr. Gary Streeter (South-West Devon)The Secretary of State shares everyone's concerns about the terrifying scale of HIV-AIDS in Africa in general, but in Zimbabwe 326 in particular. One in four adults in Zimbabwe has the virus, 1,000 die every week from an AIDS-related illness and perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is that 14 per cent. of all children aged four and under are HIV positive through no fault of their own.
Of the British aid package for the Government of Zimbabwe—roughly £67 million—what percentage is spent on HIV-AIDS? What percentage of that programme does the Secretary of State estimate disappears into pockets of corruption and never gets to the people who so desperately need it?
§ Clare ShortI cannot tell the hon. Gentleman without notice what proportion of our programme in Zimbabwe is focused on HIV-AIDS. However, I can assure him that we are working on that problem in Zimbabwe. We have had difficulties dealing with this problem, as we have in other matters, because of the lack of political leadership. We share the hon. Gentleman's concern about the situation in Zimbabwe, but we do not believe that it is right simply to cancel the whole of Britain's assistance to Zimbabwe as some of his hon. Friends have requested—[Interruption.] Some have, although perhaps not the hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs. Gillan). The poor of Zimbabwe suffer most from the terrible economic crisis, and we want to stay engaged where we can be useful, without giving any support to some of the actions of Zimbabwe's Government that are so destructive for its people and its economy.
§ Mr. StreeterI am certainly not looking to pick a fight with the Secretary of State on this issue, because it is so important. No one wants the people of Zimbabwe to suffer because of the withdrawal of our aid programme, but would it not be more effective to stop channelling the money into the Government of Zimbabwe and redirect it through the charities, non-governmental organisations and churches in that country which are doing a terrific job, particularly for HIV-AIDS victims? Would that not be a better way of ensuring that more money gets through to the people who need it? It would also send a clear signal to the Government of Zimbabwe that their actions are intolerable and we will not support them.
§ Clare ShortAlthough the substantive question was not on Zimbabwe, let me point out that President Mugabe has made it clear that he had a much closer, better, friendlier and warmer relationship with the previous Administration in the United Kingdom than he has with this Government, so I do not think that we will be taking any lessons from the hon. Gentleman and his party on how to deal with the situation in Zimbabwe.
The situation is terribly serious. We must try to preserve good institutions in Zimbabwe that will function well and care for the people but give the Government no comfort. That is what we are trying to do, and I am sure that it is right.