HC Deb 18 January 2002 vol 378 c485W
Mrs. Spelman

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the Pan-African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign. [27759]

Clare Short

DFID recognises that Trypanosomiasis is a major constraint to human health and to the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers throughout many parts of Africa. We have made considerable investments (over £37 million) to develop methods to control the disease in livestock and we support the World Health Organisation in its efforts to control sleeping sickness in humans.

The long-term goal of the Pan-African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication (PATTEC) is to eradicate tsetse fly from the continent. It is a complex and ambitious programme that would require many billions of dollars to implement, and is founded on as yet unproven scientific and economic theory.

Our analysis—shared also by the European Commission—is that it will not be possible to eradicate tsetse flies from Africa. The aims of the campaign are laudable, but we do not believe that they are achievable.

Our strategy is to promote methods for controlling the tsetse fly and preventative and curative methods of treatment that can be readily implemented by poor people themselves. We have programmes of support with the Inter-African Bureau of Animal Resources of the African Union, and with the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, to promote the establishment of sustainable animal health services that provide poor people with the means to control tsetse fly and the disease it carries.

Where the political will for control exists, and where there are clear social benefits, a regional approach to tsetse control may be justified. Such large scale programmes would however be best handled through multilateral channels such as the EC, and not by bilateral agencies such as DFID.

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