South East Asia: Tuberculosis

Mr. Sharma
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what contacts his Department has with governments of South East Asia in respect of the delivery of national tuberculosis programmes.

Mr. Michael Foster
The Department for International Development (DFID) contributes to tuberculosis (TB) control through a variety of channels including support for national programmes, multi donor initiatives and research.

In China, DFID has provided £28 million to the National TB Control Programme. This programme has increased national case detection rates from 30 per cent. in 2000 to over 70 per cent. in 2007 in 16 provinces, covering half of China's population. Furthermore 1.8 million patients have successfully been treated and cure rates are now well above 85 per cent.

DFID will provide £30.1 million by 2011 to the multi-donor funded Three Diseases Fund (3DF) which aims to tackle TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS. The 3DF provides grants to UN agencies and NGOs to support delivery of the National TB Strategy in Burma. DFID is also the donor representative on the Country Coordinating Mechanism which oversees the implementation of the National TB Strategy in Burma.