Health: Tuberculosis Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for International Development
Lord Berkeley of Knighton
Main Page: Lord Berkeley of Knighton (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Berkeley of Knighton's debates with the Department for International Development
(5 years, 11 months ago)
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Lord Bates
We work closely with my noble friend at the Department of Health and Social Care on the specifics of vaccines. DfID has funded some candidates for potential vaccines in the past. It is a very long-term project. There is such demand for scarce resources that we have to allocate them correctly, but if there are promising candidates for a vaccine we would very much want to look at the possibility of funding them.
Lord Berkeley of Knighton (CB)
My Lords, I was rescued from the clutches of this disease by wonderful NHS treatment. Does the Minister agree that TB can remain dormant in the human body until a time of great stress or malnutrition? Therefore, it is the combination of drug efficacy and, I am afraid, poverty that can exacerbate this problem.
Lord Bates
That is very true, and that is why the vast majority of cases of TB around the world—an estimated 10 million new cases in just the past year, leading to the potential deaths of 1.6 million people—are predominantly in low-income countries, which is also where the UK aid budget is focused most.