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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
Tonge quizzes Verma on Famine Relief
July 23, 2011 11:06 AM
• [Jul 08] Baroness Tonge (Liberal Democrat): TO ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide famine relief to the people of Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia and Kenya.
Baroness Verma (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative): My Lords, my noble friend Lady Tonge will be pleased to know that on 3 July the Government announced significant funding for the World Food Programme to help feed 1.3 million people in Ethiopia. The UK is the second largest bilateral donor in Ethiopia. Additional responses are rapidly being prepared for Somalia and Kenya, and we are closely monitoring the situation in Uganda. We are vigorously pressing other donors to play their part in helping to prevent a major catastrophe.253)
Baroness Tonge (Liberal Democrat): I thank the noble Baroness for that response. Is she aware that the population of the four countries currently threatened by famine has grown from 41 million in 1960 to 167 million now and that it is still rising fast? This huge rise in unsustainable and makes populations more vulnerable than ever to drought and crop failures. Will she now repeat the Government's pledges to give more money to maternal health and, in particular, ensure that when we deliver food aid to starving populations we should also deliver contraceptive supplies and health education to try to ensure that the children whose lives we save today will not be bringing their children to the feeding centres in 10 or 20 years' time?254)
Baroness Verma (Whip, House of Lords; Conservative): My Lords, my noble friend is aware that the DfID programmes are concentrating on ensuring that maternal and reproductive health is at the centre of all our programmes. Of course, the noble Baroness is right that the populations in these particularly poor countries are growing far more rapidly than those in more developed countries. However, it is through education and supporting women to get better healthcare that we will be able to address this problem.
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