Push to make aid more effective

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The UK is joining up with other developed countries and major donors to find ways to spend aid more effectively in the poorest parts of the world.

The coalition hopes to reduce death rates and tackle disease by building more clinics and providing better training for doctors and nurses.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said developed nations had "the knowledge and power" to save millions of lives.

Charities welcomed the initiative, but said more money was still needed.

The prime minister and German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the creation of the International Health Partnership in London last month.

On Wednesday, they will meet representatives from major donors including the UN and the World Health Organisation, as well as health ministers from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Cambodia and Nepal.

Better coordination

The BBC's developing world correspondent David Loyn said the meeting was not about giving more money, but about spending it better.

This initiative will only succeed if enough countries get behind it and if it mobilises additional aid to provide co-ordinated and expanded state health provision Barbara Stocking, Oxfam

In a statement, Mr Brown said: "Today we come together - donor governments, health agencies and developing countries - with the certainty that we have the knowledge and the power to save millions of lives through our efforts."

The Department for International Development (DfID) said that while programmes to combat specific diseases had brought good results, less attention had been paid to infrastructure improvements.

For example, it said in some developing countries there was just one health worker per 1,000 people compared to one per 100 in Europe.

Under the new initiative, donors will therefore agree to provide more long-term, predictable funding to allow poor countries to invest in hospitals, clinics and medical training.

The DfID also said developing countries often found it difficult and time consuming dealing with numerous different donors, so efforts would be made to improve coordination.

Child deaths

Development charities welcomed the initiative, but said that without more money, targets on improving health set at the UN Millennium Summit seven years ago would not be met.

Oxfam's director Barbara Stocking said: "This initiative will only succeed if enough countries get behind it and if it mobilises additional aid to provide co-ordinated and expanded state health provision."

In particular, the partnership hopes to reduced child and maternal mortality rates, and improve treatment of diseases like HIV and AIDS.

Half a million women worldwide die each year in childbirth and 10 million children do not reach their fifth birthday.

Only one in four of those in need of AIDS treatment in Africa receives it.