First Lady Introduces Coordinator for the President's Malaria Initiative as well as Announcing Countries to be added as Focus Countries

June 8, 2006 - Mrs. Laura Bush announced today that Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Senegal have been added to the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI)—an historic $1.2 billion, five-year initiative to control malaria in Africa. They will join Tanzania, Uganda, and Angola as focus countries for the PMI. At a meeting hosted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Mrs. Bush introduced Admiral R. Timothy Ziemer (U.S. Navy, retired) as the U.S. Malaria Coordinator. Admiral Ziemer will have direct authority over both the PMI and all USAID malaria programs and policy.

A partnership between USAID and the U.S. Departments of State and Health and Human Services, the PMI will significantly increase resources to the focus countries, by providing not only technical assistance, but also advanced prevention and treatment methods with a goal of reducing malaria deaths and illness by 50 percent in those countries after three full years of implementation. The PMI aims to achieve 85 percent coverage among target populations of critical malaria control and treatment interventions, including residual indoor spraying of households with insecticides; the distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets to families; intermittent, presumptive treatment of pregnant women with antimalarials; and the roll-out of new, lifesaving, artemisinin-combination therapy to treat patients with malaria.

For more information:

• Mrs. Laura Bush Announces Phase II Countries Under President's Malaria Initiative (U.S. Agency for International Development)

Last revised: August 15, 2007