§ 22. Mr. BeardTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps her Department is taking to help developing countries combat malaria. [119376]
§ Clare ShortThe World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that malaria kills one million people a year, mainly in Africa. We are strongly supporting the WHO-led Roll Back Malaria (RBM) initiative to achieve the goal of reducing the malaria burden by half by 2010. The RBM initiative provides the vehicle for concerted action by partners, especially in Africa, to deliver more widely the benefits of currently available methods of malaria control to the poorest. Overall UK developmental programme spending on malaria control activities has increased tenfold in the last five years. We are also 129W supporting public-private partnerships to develop the new generation of affordable drugs required for malaria control in developing countries, both by direct funding to WHO through such initiatives as the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), the Lapdap product development programme and the Malarone donation programme.