Let me ask you a question. If you had nothing left in your larder apart from one meagre ingredient, would you use it to feed your family, or turn it into petrol to fuel your car? The answer seems pretty clear to me.

We know that there is a gap into which a minimum of 200million women fall because their needs for contraception are unmet. Getting condoms, pills and other supplies onto the ground is one essential part of what needs to be done to deal with this. But it is only one side of the coin. If women are to be able to make use of these then we need to also tackle the flip side of the coin - the gender inequality and unequal power relations between men and women which mean that women and girls often cannot decide when or whether they have sex, including whether contraception is used.

For a country like Tanzania, support for the improvement of healthcare systems and educational provision is crucial, but it is also crucial that we empower people and give them the power to build themselves a better standard of living.

You don't have to be an international development expert to be shocked by the suffering of the women, men and children affected by the East African famine.