Gordon Brown launched a pact on Wednesday to co-ordinate rich countries’ overlapping programmes of health assistance to developing countries, although several of the biggest donors have so far declined to join.

The prime minister said global health assistance was too complex, with a plethora of organisations and initiatives often delivering money for specific diseases such as HIV/Aids, rather than building nationwide health systems. In Zambia, for example, only 10 per cent of all aid money went into the government’s budget for supporting a comprehensive health network, the government said.