The Department for International Development is not effectively monitoring the effectiveness of its policies to tackle the spread of HIV/Aids, a report has warned.

According to the National Audit Office, DfID also faces difficulties in making best use of expertise and knowledge on the disease.

However, the department was praised for its broad-based approach, its flexibility and its role in supporting research.

The report says that DfID's HIV/Aids strategy "compares well" with the approaches developed by like-minded donors.

"It provides a starting point for country staff to develop programmes suited to local circumstances," said the report.

"But it could have provided further guidance on the relative merits of different approaches, responding to demand from country teams for guidance on the most difficult issues – such as the merits of funding anti-retroviral drug treatments.

"DfID plans to produce a new strategy in July this year which it intends will address these and other issues."

Analysis

The international development department spent between £103 million and £169 million on bi-lateral HIV/Aids programmes in 2002/03.

"Effective development interventions require good analysis of the context and potential responses prior to project implementation," added the report.

"The autonomy afforded to country teams has enabled DfID to adopt a flexible approach to HIV/Aids programming."

But it added that "plans often did not link the approach proposed with resourcing and expected impacts".

"The HIV/Aids epidemic has a devastating effect on the lives of poor people in developing countries," said NAO chief Sir John Bourn.

"The Department for International Development has a clear commitment to respond to HIV/Aids.

"The department should put in place management systems sufficiently robust to ensure that people affected by HIV/Aids gain the greatest possible benefit from the increasing resources allocated to the epidemic."