Fight Against Malaria Making Progress

President's Malaria Initiative expands to eight more countries

Fight Against Malaria Making Progress

Less than a year after President Bush and first lady Laura Bush hosted the White House Summit on Malaria, the worldwide effort to halt the disease is making significant progress, according to Malaria and Children, a new report prepared by UNICEF on behalf of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM).

In Zanzibar, the percentage of tested children who test positive for malaria fell from 20 percent in 2005 to less than 1 percent in 2007 after two rounds of indoor residual spraying and the distribution of 233,000 insecticide-treated mosquito nets. The spraying and net distribution were funded by the President's Malaria Iniative (PMI), a U.S. government effort aimed at cutting malaria deaths in half in 15 of the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

President Bush, pledging to increase U.S. funding for malaria prevention and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa by more than $1.2 billion over five years, announced PMI on June 30, 2005. Work has begun in the first seven countries targeted by PMI: Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. By the end of 2007, PMI will have efforts under way in eight more countries: Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali and Zambia.

More than 1 million people die each year from malaria. The World Health Organization (WHO) has calculated that the disease costs Africa more than $12 billion annually.

By August in Uganda, Tanzania and Angola, PMI had distributed more than 1 million bed nets to protect pregnant women and caregivers of children under age 5, conducted indoor residual spraying campaigns to shield more than 2 million people and distributed more than 1 million treatments of anti-malarial drugs, according to Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, U.S. malaria coordinator for PMI.

"The results are impressive," he said. "Since 2006, household insecticide-treated net ownership in Uganda is estimated to have risen from 14.5 percent to around 50 percent because of contributions by this initiative and other partners."

An additional 30 million Africans are expected to benefit from PMI's expansion in 2007, and U.S. efforts extend beyond the 15 targeted nations. A USAID initiative in Nigeria will distribute 60,000 long-lasting insecticide treated nets to reduce malaria in that country.

PMI is a collaborative private-sector, U.S. government effort led by the U.S. Agency for International Development in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of State, the White House and others. The net distribution project, for example, involves entities as diverse as the Coca-Cola Company, Johnson & Johnson, the Case Foundation and the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBACares foundation is a partner in Nothing But Nets, a grassroots campaign to prevent malaria deaths in Africa.

Partnerships Play Key Role In U.S. Strategy

In Uganda, PMI, Malaria No More and the Ugandan Ministry of Health recently announced a partnership to distribute 570,000 long-lasting, insecticide-treated mosquito nets (LLINs) to pregnant women, children under age 5 and other vulnerable populations in 26 districts plagued by malaria.

The U.S. government and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced a partnership to distribute more than 500,000 LLINs to some of the most vulnerable households in Zambia. In September, the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka gave Zambia's Ministry of Health insecticides worth $1.3 million to launch that country's 2007/2008 indoor residual spraying campaign, which will protect about 4 million people from the disease.

In Madagascar, the U.S. government, the American Red Cross and Malaria No More announced a partnership to add net distribution to a planned integrated measles campaign and to provide community-based education for malaria prevention and proper use of nets. The campaign aims to protect nearly 1.4 million children under age 5.

The Malaria Communities Program also was announced at the White House Summit on Malaria in December 2006. That program seeks to provide $30 million over four years to new partners to support the efforts of communities and indigenous organizations to combat malaria at the local level and build sustainable malaria-control programs. The first grants, announced in October, were awarded to Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Lutheran World Relief, Episcopal Relief and Development, Minnesota International Health Volunteers and Christian Social Sciences Commission.

More good news has come on the scientific front with the successful small trial of a new malaria vaccine for children developed by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. Study results were released October 17 in a paper published online in The Lancet.

The study's key finding was that the new vaccine could be administered safely to the age group most vulnerable to severe disease and death from malaria. In addition, the vaccine was found to be 35 percent effective in preventing new infections over a six-month period in infants and 45 percent effective among children ages 1 to 4.

The fight against malaria remains high on President Bush's agenda. After meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf October 18 in Washington, the president said he and the Liberian president discussed their mutual desire to put in place a malaria initiative that will save lives in Liberia.

"Laura and I care deeply about the fact that young babies die on the continent of Africa and elsewhere needlessly. They die simply because of a mosquito bite," Bush said.

ENDS

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