Aid spending should target conflict, World Bank urges

[Gerald]

The World Bank is recommending a major difference in the way aid is spent.

A quarter of the world's population live in states affected by conflict.

In a report released on Monday, the World Bank says that there should be far more focus on building stable government, and on justice and police, than on health and education.

The report says if there is not a major refocusing of aid in this direction, then other targets on poverty, health and education will not be reached.

There is far more spent on alleviating the effects of conflict than preventing it from breaking out, and conflicts tend to be repeated.

Ninety percent of recent civil wars occurred in countries that had already had a civil war in the last 30 years.

The report found that cycles of violence were hard to stop, for example in South Africa and Central America.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13032938

Note: 11 April 2011 Last updated at 08:39 GMT