The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Bill Gates Foundation have agreed to jointly tackle HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by improving medical information systems in developing nations.
WHO has hailed the 'Health Metric Network' initiative, launched on Tuesday with a pledge of US $50 million by the Gates Foundation, as "essential for poor countries" to match their level of health protection with that of rich countries.
In a statement the Director-General of WHO, Dr Lee Jong-wook, said: "In some areas of the world even basic facts, such as a person's birth, their death and cause of death are not recorded. Accurate data is critical to identifying problems and implementing effective solutions for people's health."
At least 30 countries have expressed an informal interest in hosting fact-finding campaigns for the programme, and the WHO is hoping that the initiative will include up to 80 countries by 2011.
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