Neglected Tropical Diseases

Lord Stone of Blackheath Excerpts

Monday 3rd April 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Stone of Blackheath (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the advisory board of the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative at Imperial College. I am on the board only because I am one of the few people who can say schistosomiasis. No wonder it is neglected. I have asked them to rebrand it. I am also on the board because I am a businessman and retailer. I will focus on the enormous cost/benefit of SCI’s work and the huge return on capital employed. It effectively controls schistosomiasis across 11 countries in Africa at a cost for each child treated of 30p a year.

This is one of the most cost-effective public health programmes ever. Let us look at the scale: more than 91 million treatments have already been delivered, with funding largely from DfID. More than 200 million treatments will be delivered by 2019, half of them to girls and women. The worms are killed in children by just one safe and effective treatment; anaemia and malnutrition are reduced; the healthier children will then go on to attend school, and in the longer term, free from serious organ damage, they can contribute to their society for life.

So let us look at the maths. Disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs, due to schistosomiasis cost Africa hugely. Treated youths will be able to work for years to come. For every million who can work, even at just $1 a day, it is like $400 million of aid for Africa every year for ever. Other business people see this immediately as a must. Merck and GlaxoSmithKline donate tens of millions of praziquantel and albendazole tablets every year. The “effective altruism” movement has highly recommended our project. Philanthropists such as Luke Ding are there year after year donating large sums through Prism the Gift Fund—where I declare a trusteeship. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has supported us hugely over the long term. Just recently, Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, through their charity, Good Ventures, have made one of the largest gifts ever received to Imperial College for this cause.

In addition to controlling schistosomiasis, we could eliminate it in most countries across Africa by 2030. Elimination would pay back enormously in increased prosperity across Africa and the world. To this end, and to break down the silos, SCI is part of a global network which, together with DfID investments, is working to strengthen local health systems. It is working with the World Health Organization; with Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene programme—or WASH; with the Natural History Museum in a partnership studying the larvae, worms and snails that cause schistosomiasis; and with the noble Lord, Lord Trees, and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Schistosomiasis elimination is not only the right thing to do but would be massively cost effective. Perhaps the Minister would like to meet those expert practitioners at the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative at Imperial College to discuss the cost effectiveness of all this and a brighter future for all.