Global Health Policies

Lord Fowler Excerpts

Monday 30th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, there are many vulnerable groups across developing nations who need our assistance—that is why global health structures are important. Our approach has been to target specific levels of support to different communities to ensure workable solutions on the ground. For example, we work with partner Governments and multilateral partners to strengthen health systems for all, including the elders. We are increasing support for women giving birth in health facilities; for example, in Nepal, that has risen from 9% in 2001 to 80% in 2022, specifically for young mothers. We are working in Nigeria to help a large uplift in support for vulnerable communities there. We are also adopting new technologies to ensure that we can deliver healthcare; we have a telemedicine pilot for reaching remote communities, including elders, in Brazil. Those are just some examples, and I will be happy to discuss with the noble Lord other examples of what we do across the globe.

[Lord Fowler (CB)]

My Lords, do we not need to recognise also how things have changed—particularly with HIV and AIDS, where the position has changed from there being no cure or any way of dealing with them to, today, it being perfectly possible to deal with them effectively? Is it therefore not totally distressing to find that the latest figures show that 658,000 deaths last year were AIDS-related and that these included around 250,000 women and 100,000 children under 14? Are those figures not disgraceful, and are they not a further explanation to us of what needs to be done in international co-operation to try to expand care for this terrible pandemic, which has done so much damage over the years?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, first, I pay tribute to my noble friend’s work in this area. I agree with him: tackling issues such as AIDS has changed from many years ago to where we are today; it is preventable and there are cures available. We need to work with our international partners and—coming back to the point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Collins, about the importance of international health architecture—to ensure that those most vulnerable communities get the support they need. That was why I was delighted that we committed a further £1 billion to the Global Fund, which, as my noble friend knows, is focused, among other things, on AIDS. We need to work on specific outcomes on the ground, particularly for young women and, again, on preventable deaths—there are babies who die of AIDS, and this can be avoided.