Although not directly related, I found this to be an interesting read (I believe it was posted here a few days ago as well): http://reason.com/archives/2006/03/

Although not directly related, I found this to be an interesting read (I believe it was posted here a few days ago as well): http://reason.com/archives/2006/03/01/why-poor-countries-are-poor/print http://reason.com/archives/2006/03/01/why-poor-countries-are... It would seem to me that focusing on only one aspect of the hardships suffered by a people is like you said, going to give rise to many unintended consequences. Granted "improving infrastructure" isn't quite as sexy as "providing vaccines", it would probably make more sense to focus on a holistic approach than an isolated problem.