HIV/AIDS

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury – in the House of Commons at 10:30 am on 8 December 2005.

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Photo of Julie Morgan Julie Morgan Labour, Cardiff North 10:30, 8 December 2005

If he will increase the UK's financial contribution to tackling HIV/AIDS overseas.

Photo of Gordon Brown Gordon Brown The Chancellor of the Exchequer

Our aim is that by 2010 every HIV/AIDS sufferer will receive treatment. Advance market commitments for vaccines to prevent diseases that primarily affect poor countries were discussed at the G7 meeting of Finance Ministers at the weekend. We agreed a pilot scheme to be developed, which will support research and development and the delivery of vaccines that in the long term may help us in the search for a preventive vaccine for HIV/AIDS. I hope that there will again be all-party support for those initiatives.

Photo of Julie Morgan Julie Morgan Labour, Cardiff North

I congratulate my right hon. Friend and the Government on all the efforts that they have made in this matter. What can my right hon. Friend do to ensure that the aid that is given for HIV/AIDS is spent as intended? On a recent visit to Kenya, I was told by the Ministry for Health, health professionals and non-governmental organisations that the rules of the International Monetary Fund made it extremely difficult for them to increase their public spending on nurses, doctors and other health officials. What can my right hon. Friend do to influence the situation and create the right balance between economic stability and public spending on health in countries such as Kenya?

Photo of Gordon Brown Gordon Brown The Chancellor of the Exchequer

As my hon. Friend may know, the British Government and other European countries in particular are signing agreements with a number of countries to give long-term support to those Governments so that they can make allocations to health and education, not just on an annual basis, but on a sustainable basis. We believe that that is the best way of ensuring that money goes to health and education, rather than going to corrupt projects or being wasted. As regards the short term, I will take up my hon. Friend's question about Kenya with my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for overseas development and write to her on the matter.

Photo of Jeremy Hunt Jeremy Hunt Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)

Does the Chancellor agree that the 2010 access to AIDS treatment target will not have any credibility unless intermediate targets and milestones are set by which we can measure whether progress is being made towards the achievement of such an important target?

Photo of Gordon Brown Gordon Brown The Chancellor of the Exchequer

I accept that when a long-term target is set, the real questions are whether there will be the money to deliver that target, and whether there will be proper development of policy to achieve it, so I agree with the hon. Gentleman that we must put in place both the necessary resources and the policy measures to achieve the target. There have been great advances in antiretroviral drugs and treatments, and great advances also in charitable and other medical projects that are helping AIDS sufferers in various parts of Africa—I visited some of those projects in the course of a visit to Africa—but in the end it will require an agreement about the funding that we can provide, as well as the policy measures to implement it. I am glad that there is all-party agreement on that.