MP In Moscow Visit

Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow, was in Moscow last week attending the first ever Leaders Forum on Public-Private Partnerships to fight HIV/AIDS and TB to be held in Russia.

The event was organised by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria/Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS (GBC/TPAA). It brought together politicians, business leaders and non-Government organisations in an effort to advance the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB in Eurasia. The event served as a springboard for the development and initiation of new, high-impact public-private partnerships in the area of public health. Mr Gerrard was the only British MP invited to the conference.

Mr Gerrard said “It is vital that we cooperate across Europe and Asia to deal with the scourges of HIV and TB. Russia is facing a growing HIV epidemic and already has one of the highest rates of TB in the world. These diseases know no borders, and if we fail to take action now we will be facing much greater problems in the future, affecting us all.”

“In the emerging economies of Eastern Europe and Asia we can help to develop public and private partnerships which will help in the response to disease. We can also help civil society organisations to develop, using some of the successful models from the UK and other European countries.

“In the conference we identified a number of important areas for public-private partnerships and began to develop concrete recommendations aimed at building PPPs in countries with emerging economies. We also focused on how the private sector can work better in collaboration with other stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB. Presentations from business, NGO and government leaders highlighted the potential challenges and successes of such partnerships.”

October 2007

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