Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of the Government's aid to Bangladesh which is allocated to tackle child cancer in that country; and what assessment her Department has made of the effect of that aid.

In 2015/16, 11.5% of DFID’s programme spent in Bangladesh was spent on the Government of Bangladesh’s five year Health Sector Development programme. This includes support to cancer patients.

It is not possible to identify the exact amount of the UK government’s support for child cancer as this is part of many other diseases managed by the Health sector development programme. However, overall deaths in children less than 5 years of age are decreasing fast in Bangladesh. In 2007, the under-five death rate was 65 per 1000 live births. In 2014 it reduced to 46 deaths per 1000 live births. Bangladesh achieved the national target (48/ 1000 live births) for the millennium development goal (MDG-4) for child deaths, ahead of time.