Letter: Aid good for all

Oxfam Scotland's Judith Robertson (Comment, 19 November) provides a gloomy reminder of our failure to meet older targets, let alone the Millennium Development Goals.

Aid is often regarded as a handout which prevents poor countries from taking control of their own economies, but 21st-century assistance to development, properly targeted, allows other countries to catch up on some of the benefits which should be taken for granted, including access to clean water, adequate food supplies, universal schooling, freedom from preventable disease, and greater safety for mothers and babies.

A healthy, educated population is more productive, and consequently more independent of outside help. This leads to greater prosperity, stability, and a reduction in conflict, from which donor and recipient both gain.

Helping other countries does not need to be at the expense of our own poor.

Margaret Green

Buckingham Street

Glasgow