London — The UK is a major player in anti-malaria programmes. Last year it spent almost US$400 million, and planned increases next year would bring that to nearly $750 million, making the UK the third largest international donor after the USA and the Global Fund. That is a massive amount of money, and UK's spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), has been looking to see whether it is being well spent or whether it could be used better.
The UK is spending its money on pretty much the same things as most donors - bednets, rapid testing, affordable drugs, research - and although the NAO report says its bilateral programmes are well chosen, it puts its finger on some of the tricky aspects of these interventions - tricky for all actors, not just the UK - where it feels things could be done better.
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