§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made as to the cost-effectiveness of the charging for the provision of malaria chemoprophylaxis.
§ Mr. MaloneThe cost of malaria prophylaxis represents a small part of the overall costs of travelling to malarious areas and some anti-malaria drugs can be bought over the counter cheaper than the cost of a national health service prescription. The Government are not changing their recommendations that all travellers to malarious areas take appropriate measures to prevent malaria but do believe that, in this case, the individual traveller should meet the cost of protecting their own health. The cost-effectiveness of permitting general practitioners to charge for prescribing anti-malarial drugs has been considered as one factor in reaching this decision.