Geldof meets Blair on Africa's medicine drought

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is meeing Bob Geldof in Ethiopia tomorrow to discuss the chronic shortage of medicines in the second meeting of Blair's Commission for Africa. Other pressing issues will include corruption.

But there's some scepticism as to how effective such initiatives are at hitting the bottom line:

Possible solutions to poverty have been well-enough rehearsed since the Brandt Report first framed the terms of the debate in 1977. Only a handful of countries have reached the target of 0.7% of GDP transferred in aid to the developing world every year which was recommended in that report.

Despite a doubling of the budget for the Department for International Development since Labour were elected to power in 1997, Britain's contribution is still only at around 0.4% of GDP, while America is at the bottom of the table, at just above 0.1%.