Pay more attention to silent killers

Some government aid agencies, such as Britain’s Department for International Development (DfID), plan to spend money on improving healthcare systems, rather than on specific diseases such as Aids.

Better healthcare systems also make it easier to manage HIV patients, who tend to have other health problems.

“Some policymakers say Aids is expensive, we should focus on cheap and easy things,” Tido von Schoen-Angerer from MSF said last week, adding: “It’s not that HIV is over-funded. Global health is under-funded.” Cutting through the lobbying of the Aids industry and focusing on the real problems would be a good way to start.

Stevens is a Senior Fellow at International Policy Network, a development think-tank based in London.