Combating poverty: the charade of development aid

doi:10.1136/bmj.39420.432951.80

BMJ 2007;335:1272-1273 (22 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39420.432951.80

Editorials

Combating poverty: the charade of development aid

Scrap development aid as we know it and give the money to independentpro-poor aid organisations

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Poverty is acknowledged to be the biggest risk for ill healthworldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that about1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty, without decent shelter,clean water, adequate sanitation, or sufficient food.¹ The responseof the rich nations to global poverty has been to wave the magicwand of development aid, also known as "official developmentassistance," which distinguishes it fromad hocassistance foremergencies such as natural disasters. Development aid is meantto help eradicate poverty through the stimulation of economicgrowth.

A total of $2.3 trillion (£1.1 trillion; ${euro}$ 1.6 trillion)has been spent on development aid over past five decades, andit has been the subject of vigorous debate among developmenteconomists. Three books have emerged on the subject in the pasttwo years—The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier, The WhiteMan’s Burden by William Easterly, and The End of Povertyby Jeffrey Sacks.²³⁴ . . . [Full text of this article]

Dan J Ncayiyana, emeritus vice chancellor and professor

¹ Durban Institute of Technology, Durban 4000, South Africa

danjn@telkomsa.net

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