Keeping a measure on malaria

"This," said Agnes Bingwaho, Rwanda's Health Minister, holding up the laminated scorecard, "is something that will help Africa make progress."

Updated quarterly, it provides information from each country on policies formulated, preventative measures initiated, money spent, lives saved and lost.

The latest scorecard, launched on 21 September, describes, for example, how Angola and Burundi removed taxes and tariffs on anti-malarial commodities such as mosquito nets, medicines and insecticides. It tells how Côte d'Ivoire distributed 8.9 million nets in 2011, bringing the country closer to achieving universal net coverage. The scorecard also tracks tracer indicators for maternal, newborn and child health.

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