Neglected Tropical Diseases

Baroness Masham of Ilton Excerpts

Monday 3rd April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Masham of Ilton (CB)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Hayman for all she does on this subject. One aim of the declaration is to enhance collaboration and co-ordination on neglected tropical diseases at national and international levels, through public and private multilateral organisations, in order to work more efficiently and effectively together. If so many countries were not ravaged by wars, which produces so many refugees and poverty, there might not be so many health problems.

In 2015 alone, pharmaceutical companies donated an estimated 2.4 billion tablets—enough for 1.5 billion treatments—to prevent and treat NTDs. There is now a global problem with the growing resistance to antibiotics, especially in poor countries, which need more education. I had a very good friend, a Holy Rosary nun, who was a health visitor; she worked in Ethiopia and the Cameroons and told me that it is no good bringing babies into this world if they are to die from disease from contaminated water. She became an expert in sinking wells and providing sanitation.

It is encouraging to hear that South Sudan is soon to be certified free of Guinea worm disease, which thrives in poor areas where there is little sanitation and people bathe in and drink stagnant water. I have visited a leprosy colony on one of the islands, and two babies died in half an hour from malaria when I visited a ward in Mombasa where a friend worked. These people working with NTDs are the unsung heroes. There is much to do, and they need concerted support from Governments and anyone involved.

A neglected disease that is a global danger is tuberculosis, which has not had new drugs for a long time. In 2013-15, there were an estimated 480,000 new cases of multidrug resistant TB in the world. There are substantial differences in the frequency of MDR-TB among countries. In some cases, more severe drug resistance can develop; extensively drug-resistant TB is a more serious form of MDR-TB, caused by bacteria that do not respond to the most effective second line anti-TB drugs, often leaving patients without any further treatment options. Worldwide, only 52% of MDR-TB patients and 28% of XDR-TB patients are successfully treated. Infections that are resistant are much more expensive and take much longer to treat. It is vital that global leadership be provided on matters critical to TB. Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the newly adopted sustainable development goals but, unless there is less poverty in the world, that will be difficult to achieve. Also, resistance to a form of HIV treatment, antiretroviral therapy, is increasing around the world. The co-infection of HIV and TB, which are resistant to treatment, is very serious. So many people have been working on vaccines. Like my noble friend Lord Rea, I ask the Minister what hope there is of vaccines for TB, HIV and other diseases.