Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2016 to Question 50607, what assessment her Department has made of HIV drug resistance in the countries that her Department operates in; and what steps her Department is taking to tackle HIV drug resistance in those countries.

Our HIV and AIDS work has focused on multilateral instruments (Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, UNITAID and UNAIDS), given their greater reach and scale. The Global Fund helps countries avoid stock outs of drugs and supports patients to sustain treatment, which are two key factors in preventing drug resistance.

UNITAID has also played a key role in tackling HIV drug resistance by building the market for second-line antiretroviral treatment. Over 100,000 patients a year now have access to UNITAID-supported second-line HIV medicines.

We and our partners make use of reports such as the Global Report on Early Warning Indicators of HIV Drug Resistance published by WHO earlier this year.