Written question asked by Doug Naysmith (Labour) on Thursday, 18 March 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 22 March 2010. It was answered by Gareth Thomas (Labour) on Wednesday, 24 March 2010 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Developing Countries: Tuberculosis

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps his Department is taking to seek to ensure adequate levels of funding for research and development of new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines to reduce the number of cases of MDR and XDR tuberculosis in developing countries.

Answer: The Department for International Development (DFID) is providing £24.5 million, from 2006 to 2013, to the Global Alliance for Tuberculosis Drug Development (TBA). The TBA is a not-for-profit public private partnership developing new tuberculosis drugs that will shorten treatment, be effective against susceptible and resistant strains of tuberculosis and be compatible with antiretroviral therapies for those patients who are co-infected with HIV and tuberculosis.DFID is also providing £12 million to the Tropical Disease Research special programme at WHO, from 2008 to 2013. The work of this programme has includes accelerating the development of new diagnostics, including tuberculosis, and gaining evidence about how best to combine therapy for HIV and tuberculosis co-infection.

Secondary information