Tropical Diseases

Stuart Blair Donaldson Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2015 Westminster Hall

[Stuart Blair Donaldson (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. I thank the hon. Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) for securing the debate on this important issue.

It is important to start on the progress made in combating malaria and NTDs. On the basis of reported cases for 2013, 55 countries are on track to reduce their malaria case incidence rates by 75%, in line with World Health Assembly targets for 2015. It is great to see that, in recent years, four countries have been certified by the World Health Organisation director general as having eliminated malaria: the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Turkmenistan and Armenia. In 2014, 13 countries reported zero cases of malaria within their borders and another six reported fewer than 10 cases. Between 2000 and 2015, incidences of malaria fell by 37% globally and during the same period malaria mortality rates decreased by 60%. An estimated 6.2 million malaria-related deaths have been averted globally since 2000.

That is progress, but there is obviously progress still to be made. According to the latest World Health Organisation estimates released in September 2015, this year will see 214 million cases of malaria and 438,000 deaths. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to carry a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden: the region is home to 89% of cases and 91% of deaths. Some 15 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, account for 80% of cases and 78% of deaths. Since 2000, the decline in malaria incidence in those 15 countries has lagged behind that of other countries.

In areas with high malaria transmission, children under five are particularly susceptible to infection, illness and death, with more than two thirds of all malaria deaths occurring in that age group. However, between 2000 and 2015, the under-five malaria death rate fell by 65% globally, translating into an estimated 5.9 million children’s lives saved.

It is often the countries affected by neglected tropical diseases that are increasingly leading the fight to tackle them. In doing so, they are improving coverage rates and making strides towards elimination, with many already achieving elimination goals for individual diseases. In 2014, 126 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported, which is a staggering 99.99% drop since 1986. Only five cases have been reported so far in 2015. Of the 81 countries endemic for lymphatic filariasis, 25 no longer need mass drug administration, including 10 that have successfully eliminated transmission. Fewer than 4,000 new cases of human African trypanosomiasis—also known as sleeping sickness—were reported to the World Health Organisation last year, which is the lowest level in at least 75 years.

According to the UK coalition against neglected tropical diseases—and as the hon. Member for Stafford mentioned—NTDs affect 1.4 billion of the world’s poorest people through mortality, morbidity, disability and stigma. The 10 neglected tropical diseases mentioned in the London declaration of 2012 are reported on each year in the Uniting to Combat NTDs annual report. Its third report was published on 25 June 2015, with its key finding being that increased investment in combating NTDs is hugely economically beneficial for nations afflicted by such illnesses. It is also reassuring to note that more than 5.5 billion tablets have been donated, providing 3.5 billion treatments since the London declaration.

It was good to hear the hon. Member for Northampton South (David Mackintosh) raise leprosy. The report mentioned that leprosy is one of the diseases that is off track, which demonstrates that we need to do more to tackle NTDs and ensure that no NTD is neglected.

Taken together, the NTDs in the London declaration constitute a disability and mortality burden of the same order of magnitude as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria. However, the costs associated with reaching the WHO 2020 targets are relatively modest compared with those big three, and the benefits are enormous, providing a compelling case that the WHO road map is a highly cost-effective initiative, with far-reaching global health, societal and economic impacts.

Combating NTDs would unlock the productive and economic potential of hundreds of millions of people who would otherwise be kept out of work and school. As hon. Members have mentioned, sustainable development goal No. 3 is to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. One of that goal’s targets is, by 2030, to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical diseases and to combat hepatitis, water-borne diseases and other communicable diseases.

The delivery of malaria and NTD interventions is essential to achieving universal health coverage, ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for those of all ages, particularly the vulnerable and marginalised. It also contributes strongly to reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, and provides the opportunity to treat childhood illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and acute malnutrition.

It is clear that combating malaria and NDTs will significantly help to achieve the sustainable development goals; indeed, the goals will help to combat malaria and NTDs. With that in mind, it would be great if the Minister told us how the action that DFID is taking to combat malaria and NTDs fits into its wider strategy to achieve the sustainable development goals.

Let me finish by commending the work of the University of Dundee, which the hon. Member for Stafford touched on, in tackling malaria, with the discovery of a new anti-malarial compound in June 2015. The imaginatively named DDD107498 has the potential to treat malaria patients, including those with malaria parasites resistant to current medications, in a single dose and to help to reduce the transmission of the parasite. The compound was identified through a collaboration between the University of Dundee’s drug discovery unit and Medicines for Malaria Venture. The discovery of that new anti-malarial agent, which has shown remarkable potency in multiple stages of the malaria lifecycle, is an exciting prospect in the hunt for viable new treatments. Once again, I thank the hon. Member for Stafford for securing the debate, and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response to some of the points raised.