London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Bad governments are no excuse for cutting aid to the world's poorest countries, a top academic said on Thursday.

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Egbert Sondorp said: "We know these arguments - so we have to prove that there are still opportunities to reach out to these people and do something useful."

Dr Sondorp added that new approaches to relief work would have to be developed so not only aid is delivered, but a contribution to improving corrupt governments as well.

And he said that countries hit by conflict and other struggling nations had to be backed by the international community to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, designed to alleviate world poverty.

Dr Sondorp was speaking on the first day of a two day conference at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), jointly organised with UK-based international relief and healthcare agency Merlin.

The conference comes only days before the G8 group of world leaders meet at Gleneagles in Scotland - where a discussion on how to boost aid and reach the Millennium Goals is on the agenda.

According to the UK government's Department of International Development, fewer than 40 countries are classed as "fragile states" - but these countries are home to a third of people with HIV/AIDS and account for a third of the world's maternal deaths each year.

Dr Sondorp said: "Most of them are extremely poor and have very high mortality as well as bad government, which makes it very difficult for aid agencies to do anything."

But he insisted: "A corrupt government is no excuse for giving up trying - what we have to do is deliver desperately needed aid and help create better governments as well."

The conference, at the LSHTM in London's Keppel St, will discuss key issues in meeting the Millennium Goals and the challenges of improving health in some of the poorest nations on earth.

It will focus on ways to improve maternal health, cutting child mortality and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other killer diseases.

Participants in the conference include UN agencies, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, aid donors, academics and non-governmental organisations.

Merlin health director Linda Doull added: "Fragile states are home to about 15 per cent of the world's population, often the poorest, which signifies the importance of working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in these countries.

"If the underlying issues and the difficulties they present are not addressed, we will be even further away from achieving the goals - and from helping the people who are most in need."

Dr Sondorp said that western governments in recent times had concentrated aid on nations with the best government systems at the expense of fragile states.

Fragile states include Afghanistan in central Asia, the Congo and Nigeria in Africa and Myanmar in south east Asia.

Dr Sondorp said: "We hope that the G8 leaders are listening and that they don't forget these fragile states. There are challenges in delivering aid to them, but these challenges must be overcome."