Ask Brian Chituwo, Zambia’s minister of health, about Aids and he rolls his eyes skyward. “Aids, Aids, Aids,” he says. “It takes so much money. We would like more for prevention. There’s no point giving a child drugs to treat HIV if they then drink infected water and die of cholera.”

Zambia is one of the African nations hardest hit by the medical, social and economic burden of HIV/Aids. But in the battle for scarce resources to support daunting health demands of all sorts in poor countries, the minister’s attitude sums up growing concern that a few high-profile diseases risk absorbing too much.