Here’s a final blog from my International ministerial visit to Southern Africa last week:

I ended my trip to southern Africa with a meeting on TB in the region’s mines.

The two are closely linked as HIV dramatically increases susceptibility to TB which helps explain why Africa is the region most affected by TB, and Southern Africa shouldering an incomparably high burden.

And the disease is most prevalent in the mines –it’s estimated that half a million mine workers have the highest TB incidence in the world and three to seven per cent of miners are becoming ill with TB every year.

Rightly, there is a lot of interest from Parliamentarians on this subject back home – from both MPs and Lords.

I want to reassure them – and you – that DFID is committed to support the fight against these two diseases, TB and HIV. With the British  Government’s support, the Stop TB Partnership is active across southern Africa and we’ve been working closely with the Chamber of Mines and other partners to build a more co-ordinated approach to the problem of TB in mine workers, the local mining communities and labour sending areas.

The UK has contributed to the 25% reduction in TB deaths among HIV positive people globally since 2004 and the 28% reduction in Africa over the same period.

We will continue to highlight and support the problem of TB and HIV among the miners in the Southern African region and we now need all those involved in improving miners’ lives to build a stronger regional response through a more harmonised approach and follow-up of people with TB.

Blog from Malawi – also available on Huffington Post

It took 10 minutes for me to witness despair in the optimistically-titled ‘Corridors of Hope’.

It must seem like a cruel name to those being tested for HIV in the small, sparse rooms along this hallway in Dedza District Hospital in Malawi.

There was little hope in the eyes of the father I sat with shortly after he learnt he was living with HIV. Cradling his son in his arms, together they faced the agonising wait for the boy’s test results.

In just 600 seconds, the four-year-old would hear whether he was the latest of 930,000 people in this small African country who are HIV positive.

But there is hope.

Lilian Hara is a Community Health Nurse at the HIV Testing and Counselling Centre in Dezda. Picture: Emily Gray/DFID

While 68,000 people die of AIDS-related illnesses here every year, HIV/AIDS no longer needs to be a death sentence. I am in Malawi to see how the Department for International Development‘s support is making an impact on the ground and reviewing how British development aid can be made even more effective.

Our funding means the father I met will become one of thousands of people who receive counselling and advice on living with HIV and the much-needed anti-retroviral treatmentswhich will help him lead a normal life.

The hospital also sees 5,000 pregnant women every year and for those who test positive, helps prevent transmission of the virus from mother to child. The work of this hospital and others like it has helped bring HIV prevalence rates down from 11.3% to 7.5% in the last 10 years.

The local centre is helping to stop HIV being transmitted to children in the Dezda area. Picture: Emily Gray/DFID

Preventing the spread of HIV is vital if we are ever going to reach our ultimate goal of the ‘three zeros’ – zero new HIV infections, zero stigma and discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

Because the high rate of infection is closely linked to gender disparity and violence against women and girls, I also visited a pioneering policing unit to support victims of gender based violence.

More than 40% of Malawian women have experienced physical or sexual violence – while 60% of girls and 35% of boys have also experienced some form of abuse. For the first time, those in Dedza have a safe haven where they can report the crimes, receive counselling, mediation and advice.

Prosecutions are being pursued more vigorously now – though this may be little comfort to those victims left with HIV. That’s why the Department for International Develompent (DFID) is also working with the poorest communities so they can set up support groups to tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS and help those who are positive live healthy lives free from discrimination.

One HIV positive lady I met told me she set up a support group because her best friends looked at her husband and her “like dead people” and children refused to play with her kids when they learned of her status.

She said the work of the support group has reduced the stigma attached to HIV and the despair of those living with it as people realise “there is still a life to live”.

That’s her message to the devastated father sitting in the Corridors of Hope.

With continued commitment from the Government of Malawi, support from NGOs and donors such as DFID, and real effort from the communities themselves – we can turn hope into certainty.

The one certainty I can pass on now is that after the 10 minute wait, the father’s four-year-old boy tested negative. I just hope he stays that way.

We want your views! Click here to find out how the UK helps to prevent HIV in the developing world and have your say in our open consultation.

The British Government has made some impressive commitments to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people. I am incredibly proud of the huge number of children we’re vaccinating, girls we’re educating and families we’re providing with clean water.

But one of our most challenging ambitions involves the smallest number  – 0. The UK remains committed to the vision of getting zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. This matters as much to people in Britain as it does to the poorest parts of the world. Infections do not respect borders.

I am currently in Southern Africa – the global epicentre of the HIV epidemic – to see how the Department for International Development’s support is making an impact on the ground and review how British development aid can be made even more effective.

Although we are not going to reach our eventual targets of “the three zeros” overnight – we will reduce by at least 500,000 new HIV infections among women in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015. In the last year alone, we’ve developed four new HIV prevention programmes in sub-Saharan Africa (Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and across the region). We are doing this by investing in a diverse range of projects, supporting civil society organisations, research and development, multilateral organisations (in particular our contribution to the Global Fund) and working with the private sector.

But more needs to be done. There are an estimated 11.3m living with HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, an increase of nearly a third from ten years ago. Despite the increasing numbers on treatment, the number of people becoming newly infected  each year still exceeds the number of new people treatment.

I am keen to know what more DFID can be doing and how we can do things differently to reach our eventual goal of ‘zero new infections’. As part of a review into our strategy, I met with the Deputy Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team, politicians from across Southern Africa and a range of NGOs as well as researchers. The high rates of  HIV infection is closely linked to gender disparity and violence against women and girls, and I also met with South African counterparts and civil society stakeholders on how to jointly work on this important challenge.

What I heard was a message of hope and with so many people committed to the fight against HIV/AIDS. My message to them, and for all those living with HIV/AIDS – including those in the UK as well as in Southern Africa – is that DFID will work harder and more flexibly to make what we do count even more. It is my hope that our work will count towards zero – zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

I’m in currently in Kenya on an international ministerial visit. Here’s a blog following today’s visit to Marsabit County:

Very little grows in the arid lands of northern Kenya and farmers, their families and livestock face a daily struggle for survival.

In the searing heat of Marsabit County, drought and poverty collide often with horrific consequences –  acute malnutrition rates regularly sit above the 15 per cent emergency threshold.

DFID is working constantly to prevent a repeat of the severe food crises that have devastated whole regions of Africa. And on a trip to the region, I saw today how British taxpayers are helping communities in this unforgiving environment protect themselves from disaster.

Livestock owners are able to make a good – and sustainable – living if they are able to get their animals to market. And now they are able to insure their goats, sheep and camels against the lengthy dry season that can decimate the valuable herds.

I met a group of 11 – mainly women – who told me how by paying GBP1 a week to the DFID-supported scheme, they can fund themselves during droughts and are less likely to need emergency aid.

I also sat with beneficiaries of our Hunger Safety Net Programme, which supports 69,000 households with small cash payments.

This enables families to save and pay their own way when times are hard – spending the money on food, healthcare and education for their kids without needing further handouts.

But I’m a realist. We’re not going to end hunger overnight as these programmes take time to help the poorest help themselves. That’s why we still provide emergency care to those in grave need.

I met some of the 65,000 mothers and  babies being treated for malnutrition who are also being taught how to prevent it in the future, thanks to support from the UK.

We are also strengthening the health system of the Government of Kenya so they are better placed to prepare for and respond to spikes in demand.

While few plants and crops survive in Northern Kenya’s harsh conditions, the confidence of those in greatest need has grown. Thanks to these relatively small interventions they now have a cushion to protect them when drought and poverty next collide.

Went to Cutting Edge Press summer party this week.

This is a publisher with a social conscience – publishing such books as ‘My Beautiful England’ which deals with women coming to England and suffering domestic violence. Not only a good read but a book that will empower women to access support services which can help them.

‘Gorilla Land’ – dealing with the conflict in Congo, child soldiers and the legacy of colonialism and the current impact of the UN peacekeepers and NGOs.

And many more.

Given how closely this relates to my work in International Development – what a pleasure it was to meet the authors, agents and production teams who are part of the Cutting Edge Press’ stable. Martin Hay (CEO and Finance Director) is the driving force behind Cutting Edge Press – and  it is his vision and intellect that has made this such a special publishing house.