HC Deb 13 June 2003 vol 406 cc276-7W
Dr. Tonge

To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what discussions he has had with the Government of Malawi concerning prevention of HIV and AIDS in prisons. [116404]

Hilary Benn

None. The Malawi Government Health Policy, endorsed by the Ministry of Justice and the Prison Department, advocates treatment of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) for prisoners to help control the AIDS epidemic. DFIDs Safety, Security and Access to Justice (MaSSAJ) programme supports the National Council for Safety and Justice (NCSJ), which has endorsed implementation of a Health in Prison Programme. As part of this, a local NGO, Banja La Mtsogolo, is conducting STI treatment and HIV/AIDS and STI prevention information programmes in all Malawi Prisons. The Head of DFID (Malawi) is a full member of NCSJ.

Dr. Tonge

To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what discussions he has had with the Malawi Government regarding the emigration of(a) doctors and (b) nurses from Malawi [116409]

Hilary Benn

None. However we are concerned about recruitment of trained medical personnel from developing countries. The Department of Health (DoH) introduced a Code of Practice in 2001 designed to prevent such recruitment. The DoH has listed particular countries from which active recruitment should be avoided. Malawi is one of these. DFID is working with DoH to ensure the Code is effective. However the Code of Practice is only applicable to NHS recruitment. Anecdotal evidence shows that UK private recruitment agencies continue to recruit from Malawi, and other countries on the DoH list. DFID is gathering evidence on the exact nature and scale of such recruitment to determine if action can be taken to reduce its impact.

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