International Development: Diseases of Poverty

Countess of Mar Excerpts

Wednesday 24th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

Again, the noble Lord highlights an important area. Polio is on the edge of being eradicated but in Pakistan and northern Nigeria, as the noble Lord will know, religious fanatics have killed some of those trying to roll out the programmes there. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working extremely hard to tackle this but, obviously, it is a very delicate problem.

[The Countess of Mar]

My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that prevention is better than cure and that a vital component of this is clean water and good nutrition? What is DfID doing from that point of view?

[Baroness Northover]

DfID fully recognises that malnutrition goes with diseases of poverty and is therefore trying to tackle both poverty and malnutrition. As the noble Countess says, clean water and sanitation are vital in ensuring that children, in particular, manage to survive these diseases.