HIV Global Epidemic: Young People

Baroness Barker Excerpts

Thursday 1st December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

That is absolutely right and it is what we are focusing on. I think I am right in saying that HIV is still the largest killer of adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa. We need to move much further in that area. That is why it is encouraging that the Global Fund is spending a large proportion of its money in low-income countries. At the same time, we need to provide better civil society networks and social networks that can help young people when those tragedies happen so that they can access treatment and antiretrovirals. As my noble friend Lord Prior will be saying, people can have a better quality of life here living with AIDS, and that should be more widely available in southern Africa as well.

[Baroness Barker (LD)]

My Lords, PEPFAR and the Global Fund are of crucial importance across the world. Will the British Government encourage the incoming Administration in the United States to maintain the levels of funding and not diminish them?

[Lord Bates]

We must give credit to PEPFAR, and to George W Bush, who set it up, for the work it has done around the world in tackling this disease. Certainly, that would be our expectation. We have a very close working relationship with USAID in this area and we fully expect that it will continue, into the future, to tackle and achieve the global goal of eradicating HIV as a public health threat by 2030.