Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Thursday, 20 April 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 April 2006. It was answered by Ian Pearson (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 May 2006 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the merit of an HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness campaign which specifically refutes the belief that sorcery is a vehicle for transmission of the virus.

Answer: The UK has an on-going dialogue with the Congolese Government on HIV, the child witch”” phenomenon and human rights. But we have not made representations specifically linking HIV awareness and sorcery. The UK fully supports the Congolese Government's planned HIV sensitisation programme. This will help dispel the myth about the link between sorcery”” and HIV, and will contribute to longer-term improvement of children's rights. To address the issue of HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the UK has funded behaviour change communications campaigns and the distribution of millions of condoms. We are assisting the Government to implement a national HIV/AIDS strategy, and we are supporting the provision of primary health care and education through UN agencies and non-governmental organisations.

Secondary information