Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour). It was answered on Thursday, 16 February 2006.

Africa: Drought and Famine

Question: My Lords, do the Government agree that there is a good deal of understanding among governments and scientists of when the famines in Africa will come along but that the problem, as I saw when in I was in Africa in November, is that information is not being disseminated adequately to the local level? Could the Government learn something from India, which has an astonishing system of getting information to villages using the Internet and so on? It really is important to get the information to the local level.

Answer: My Lords, my noble friend is absolutely right. We have been monitoring the situation in the Horn of Africa over many months—indeed, over the past couple of years. Information gets down to the local areas in some countries much more quickly than it does in others. We will certainly look at the example of India to see whether we can learn anything from that.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 678 c1262
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Disaster relief Droughts Famine Ethiopia Somalia Kenya Horn of Africa
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk