Introduction
In 2011, African Union Heads of State and Government requested the enhancement of tracking and accountability for malaria. To realise this, we developed the ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action. The scorecard shows the progress being made at a country-level and allows comparisons between countries on the African continent.
Over the years, the ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action has added indicators for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, neglected tropical diseases and the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. It shows the progress being made at a country-level and allows comparisons between countries on the African continent.
The scorecard is produced in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria. The scorecard is updated and shared every 3 months, along with an overview report for Africa and country-specific quarterly reports.
Driving impact across the continent
The scorecard drives impact across the continent and has led to:
- keeping malaria high on the political and development agenda – especially during the COVID-19 pandemic
- enhanced domestic and partner resource mobilisation
- accelerating procurement
- enacting rapid policy changes
- countries addressing emergencies and malaria upsurges
The African Leaders Malaria Alliance scorecard is a gold star example. It has a clear and focused theory of change with defined objectives and audience, includes a large number of actionable indicators, and has a clear engagement plan for its targeted audience.
Results for Development review of data visualisation tools
Audience for the scorecard
The ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action is shared quarterly with:
- Heads of State and Government
- Ministers of Health, Finance and Foreign Affairs
- Ambassadors to the African Union and the United Nations
Heads of State and Government and senior leaders value this scorecard as it helps them improve accountability, monitoring and response to health system gaps.
The scorecard is used as a key resource by ministries of health, national malaria control programmes and development partners to facilitate tracking of progress and strengthening accountability for malaria control and elimination across the continent.
Components of the scorecard
We work with the World Health Organization and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria to gather data for the indicators. We update the ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action every 3 months. Each quarter, African Heads of State and Government receive:
- the latest ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action
- an overview report summarising progress across Africa
- a country-specific quarterly report with recommended actions to address identified bottlenecks. Every quarter, countries provide feedback on the recommended actions with a response rate of over 80%
Part of the African Union Summit official documentation
At the African Union Summit, since 2018, we have shared the ALMA Scorecard for Accountability and Action, country reports and the Africa Malaria Progress Report to all Heads of State and Government as part of the official summit documentation
During the summit, the sitting ALMA chair briefs the AU Heads of State and Government during the African Union summit on the progress and bottlenecks in malaria control and elimination on the content.