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Public, Private Sector Leaders To Energize Anti-Malaria Efforts

Partnerships vital for controlling fatal disease, official says

When leaders of governments, international organizations, corporations, nongovernmental organizations and faith-based groups come together December 14 in Washington, they will jump start an ambitious public-private effort to save lives from the preventable and treatable mosquito-borne disease of malaria.

"Through partnerships we can bring malaria under control," Tim Ziemer, head of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), said in December 12 remarks to reporters about the upcoming White House Summit on Malaria, announced by first lady Laura Bush in August. (See related article.)

Leaders at the summit will start immediately to plan for a comprehensive follow-up meeting to educate the public about malaria, which disproportionately affects children under age 5 and pregnant women, said John Bridgeland, chief executive officer of the nonprofit organization Malaria No More.

The summit also will aim to energize publics - from "megaphilanthropies to individuals" and governments - to become involved in preventing the spread of malaria by raising funds for the purchase of bed nets, said Anita McBride, chief of staff to the first lady.

Each long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed net, costing $10, can save a life if used properly, Bridgeland said.

Awareness programs jointly funded by public and private sources also are being used to train community health workers in malaria-affected countries to teach bed net recipients about the nets' proper use, Ziemer said.

Bridgeland said more and more companies are educating their employees, suppliers and customers about the often-fatal disease and helping to bring in contributions from them.

He added that Malaria No More's grassroots awareness effort includes schools in communities throughout the United States, where students are gaining a new awareness of malaria and beginning to raise funds.

Ziemer said the involvement of other governments and the news media is critical for helping to raise awareness of the infectious disease.

Begun by President Bush in 2005, PMI focuses on 15 countries most affected by malaria, all in Africa. To date, the United States has budgeted $330 million of a total five-year commitment of $1.2 billion to fighting malaria, Ziemer said.

Ziemer noted that the United States is spending more to fight malaria around the world. For instance, he said, the United States contributes one-third of total funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and provides more funds to World Bank-sponsored anti-malaria efforts.

Malaria kills more than 2 million people in Africa each year. Between 300 and 500 million people suffer from malaria, according to a fact sheet on the U.S. Sustainable Development Partnerships Web site.

Many families spend approximately 20 percent of their income on malaria treatments, and public health institutions spend up to 40 percent of their budgets on outpatient malaria treatment. The disease also results in an economic loss of $3 billion to African economies each year, slowing economic growth, the fact sheet states.

Among leaders expected at the summit are Bush and the first lady; U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings; Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF; Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank; Margaret Chan, director general-elect of the World Health Organization; Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and officials of such major nongovernmental organizations as United Way and the Red Cross.

Gates reportedly will announce at the meeting an increase in funding from the Gates Foundation for vaccine research and expanded malaria control efforts in hard-hit countries in Africa, bringing the foundation's spending on malaria to a reported $765.8 million.

More information about Malaria No More is available on the group's Web site. More information about the Gates Foundation is available on the foundation's Web site.

More information about U.S. anti-malaria efforts is available on the State Department's Sustainable Development Partnerships (SDP) Web site.

For more information on U.S. policies, see Health.

Source: U.S. Department of State

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