Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department makes available for leprosy with reference to (a) education, (b) medicines and (c) social programmes.

DFID provided £1,127,646 between 2015 and 2018 to the Leprosy Mission England and Wales to improve the livelihoods and food security of poor people in Mozambique, including people affected by leprosy.

DFID has also committed up to £570,915 between 2016 and 2019 to LEPRA, for work in rural Bangladesh. This project provices early detection services and improved access to quality health services for people who are at risk of contracting leprosy or lymphatic filariasis.

DFID also provides funding for the World Health Organisation’s work on NTDs, and more generally supports the strengthening of health systems, helping to ensure that countries are better able to detect and treat all causes of ill health, including leprosy.