Health: Ebola

Debate between Baroness Verma and Baroness Masham of Ilton

Wednesday 9th March 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, as the noble Lord knows, we are currently undergoing bilateral and multilateral reviews. We will learn from that process where our future funding will go. To take the noble Lord’s point about concentrating on fragile countries, a number of the countries to which the noble Lord referred will be among the 50% that we are targeting in our support for conflict-ridden and fragile states.

[Baroness Masham of Ilton (CB)]

My Lords, could the Minister encourage the Governments of the countries involved with the Ebola virus to teach their populations not to eat bush meat, which can carry the virus?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Baroness raises an important point about causes, but these are lessons that we will learn as we review all the work that we ourselves, other agencies and the Sierra Leone Government have done. We are also undertaking a lot of research in this area, so I thank the noble Baroness for her question.

Ebola: Sierra Leone

Debate between Baroness Verma and Baroness Masham of Ilton

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My noble friend is absolutely right. We must of course pay tribute to all those people who put themselves at risk on the front line, including our military personnel and staff of the NHS, among many who have gone there and worked on the ground, putting their own lives at risk. We must also pay tribute to the people of Sierra Leone themselves, who were very much instrumental in being able to restrain this outbreak.

[Baroness Masham of Ilton (CB)]

My Lords, how was it that a swab was taken only after the poor woman died? Surely, diagnosis should have been done when she became ill. Was she not looked after?