To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what measures his Department is taking to ensure efficient and timely procurement of antiretroviral drugs through the Global Fund and other mechanisms. (275005)

The Department for International Development (DFID) is aware that some countries supported by the Global Fund are at risk from health facility stores temporarily running out of essential antiretroviral drugs (stock-outs). DFID officials have spoken to the fund’s secretariat about this, including recently at the Global Fund’s Executive Board (5-6 May 2009). Formally, the UK supported a resolution made at the board meeting which obliges the fund’s secretariat to address this issue urgently, to report on whether its existing procedures are adequate, and to propose solutions which would minimise the risks of disruptions to treatment both in the short term and on an ongoing basis. In developing countries such as Zimbabwe, DFID is also assisting, where possible, in the provision of drugs while problems in Global Fund supported programmes are being addressed.