Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment he has made of the recent HIV outbreak among children in Pakistan.

We are closely tracking reports of an outbreak of just over 600 new cases of HIV, 75% of them among children, in a town called Ratto Dero in Sindh province. The UK government invests significantly in the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GF), which works closely with the provincial government in Sindh.

There has been an intensive effort to test the population for HIV to establish the extent of the outbreak. Over 20,000 people have been tested to date. We are in close contact with the Global Fund and will work with them to ascertain whether any further assistance is needed, for example to make treatment available for those who need it and prevent onward transmission.