Accurate figures would help to assess countries' needs better

EDITOR—In his news item Lamar reports Medecins Sans Frontieres as saying that developing countries spend twice as much a year on debt repayments as on health and education combined.1 Over the past decade I have read similar comparisons for many countries and regions of the developing world. Occasionally the comparison is combined with the figure—sometimes grossly inaccurate—for debt servicing. Not once have …