The AAI Country Scorecard 2008
In adopting the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, all UN Member States have committed themselves to report regularly on progress made in responding to the AIDS epidemic. The AIDS Accountability Country Scorecard, for the first time, presents this information in an aggregated, transparent and comparative fashion. The AAI Country Scorecard Elements The Country Scorecard includes assessment of eight key elements required for an effective national response to AIDS, based on the latest data on progress reported against the core indicators used by UNAIDS for monitoring the United Nations Declaration of Commitment. It also provides an AIDS Reporting Index that measures failure of countries to report. 1. Data Collection 2. Focus on Most-at-Risk Populations 3. Treatment 4. Prevention 5. Coordination 6. Civil Society 7. Financing 8. Human Rights Mainstreaming Under every element, countries are given a score for their responses to one or a set of questions in the UNAIDS monitoring tool, selected to measure the quality of their response in that area. These scores are then aggregated and expressed in grades, from A (very good) to E (very poor). Countries that fail to submit the required data for one or more of the questions receive a zero score, which lowers their aggregate grade for that element. A widespread lack of transparency is one of the key factors hindering accountability: assessment of performance cannot occur unless countries provide the required data. The final element of the Country Scorecard, known as the AIDS Reporting Index, notes whether countries have failed to provide any data at all on the questions for one or more elements. The Index tallies up the number of elements that each country fails to report on and presents a ranking from best (all elements reported) to worst (no elements reported).