TRACKING PROGRESS IN MALARIA IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC

APLMA MALARIA SCORECARD

WHAT IS THE APLMA MALARIA SCORECARD?
Produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank and other partners, the APLMA Malaria Scorecard will help to track progress in malaria control and elimination in Asia-Pacific countries towards the goals and targets set within the context of the Asia-Pacific Malaria Leaders Alliance (APLMA). The key objectives of APLMA are: To reduce malaria cases and deaths by 75 per cent by 2015 (from 2000 levels), in line with World Health Assembly goals, and To contain artemisinin resistant strains of malaria.

HOW WILL THE APLMA SCORECARD BE PRODUCED?

The APLMA Scorecard will include indicators designed to measure progress in key areas such as funding, intervention coverage, containment of artemisinin resistance, and overall progress in reducing the malaria burden. WHO will work with Ministries of Health and implementing partners to collect and collate the necessary data. The Scorecard will include data collected routinely for the WHO World Malaria Report as well as other sources of information available from countries or partners. The Scorecard will be updated twice a year and shared with APLMA member countries, together with technical recommendations and guidance on required next steps. It will also be included in APLMAs annual reports. Given the weaknesses of malaria surveillance systems in many endemic countries, increased resources and political commitment will be required to improve data collection and reporting at country level, not only to ensure that the Scorecard becomes a useful and reliable measurement tool, but to help countries achieve their public health goals. It is proposed that the Scorecard covers all 20 malaria endemic countries in WHOs South East Asia and Western Pacific regions.

WHO WILL USE THE APLMA SCORECARD?

The Scorecard will be a valuable resource for APLMA leaders, Ministries of Health in all endemic countries in the region as well as their implementing partners. It will help countries track progress towards the 2015 commitments and beyond. It will highlight bottlenecks, encourage prompt action and raise awareness about resource and capacity gaps as well as surveillance challenges. The Scorecard will support and strengthen much-needed action to tackle malaria and artemisinin resistant malaria and help countries move towards elimination of the disease.