Baroness Barker
Main Page: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)(1 day, 6 hours ago)
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Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
That would be a fascinating question to put to my colleague the Health Minister, but the issue the noble Lord raises is really important, because it speaks to the point about stigmatisation and awareness, and about the amazing fact—which, 20 or 30 years ago, would not have been the case—that so many people now live incredibly long, fulfilling and healthy lives. I have many friends with HIV and I am sure that, one day—they might not want to talk about this—they will be looking at the prospect of being in some kind of care facility. It is vital that that stage of their life can be lived with dignity and in as fulfilling a way as possible. There is no reason whatever that their HIV status should be an impediment to that, and the Government will work to do whatever they need to do to make sure that that is the case.
Baroness Barker (LD)
My Lords, the decision of the United States Government to end, almost without notice, funding to many multilateral programmes for HIV and AIDS has destroyed medical and scientific research networks across the world, particularly in Africa, and they cannot be rebuilt. Our Government have agreed to continue to fund the Global Fund, for which we are most grateful, but it is important that we continue to fund Unitaid and Robert Carr, so that emerging technologies for prevention and treatment can be scaled up quickly. Will the Government commit to maintaining that intervention?
Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)
We absolutely can commit to continuing to fund those organisations. I cannot give numbers at the moment—we are working through the specific allocations at the moment—but the noble Baroness makes a really strong case, which I hear. The fact that we are backing the Global Fund to the extent that we are shows the Government’s intentions on this issue.