§ Mr. WareingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent world development report, "Investing in Health" and on the visit of the Minister for Overseas Development to the world development conference in Liverpool.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydWe welcome this comprehensive and stimulating report and agree with its central thesis that a major proportion of the global burden of ill health could be prevented or inexpensively treated through cost-effective health care interventions. We endorse its concern about the huge burden of disease suffered by Africa.
At the Liverpool school of tropical medicine on 23 July, my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for Overseas Development delivered a speech entitled "The Challenge for Investors in Health: ODA's Perspective". She referred to two important challenges n the report: how can Governments and donors (i) provide more resources for health care and (ii) concentrate resources on cost-effective health care. She explained that ODA's health and population assistance is addressing these challenges by (i) helping to develop and refine health technologies, (ii) helping countries establish the systems needed to deliver health care technologies and (iii) encouraging reallocation of resources for health care, so that investments lead to real health improvements for the greatest number of people. We have placed a copy of her speech in the Libraries of the House.