President George W. Bush Adds Malaria Contol to VfP Executive Order

Washington, DC – President George W. Bush announced today that the Volunteers for Prosperity (VfP) initiative he created by executive order in September 2003 has been expanded to support his goals to control global malaria.
Speaking at the first-ever White House Summit on Malaria, the President said through VfP, doctors and nurses can volunteer overseas to combat the preventable disease and organizations may receive grants more easily for utilizing highly skilled volunteers to combat malaria in Africa.

VfP is a U.S. Government companion program to the Peace Corps, which requires a longer term commitment of two full years overseas.  Service through VfP is more flexible, ranging from a week to months or even years.  Volunteers work under the direction of America’s leading companies and nonprofits.  These VfP partners are engaged in activities that support the U.S. Government’s goals for global health and prosperity including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, African Global Competitiveness Initiative, Water for the Poor Initiative, Digital Freedom Initiative, Middle East Partnership Initiative, and Millennium Challenge Account.

“The international voluntary service model that has served so well for VfP to date will now join the U.S. Government’s fight against malaria,” said Jack Hawkins, Director of the Office of Volunteers for Prosperity (VfP Office) at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “American volunteers - talented health care professionals and others – will play key roles in this global cause.”

During  2006, the VfP Office, the interagency coordinator of the initiative, helped mobilize more than 21,000 American volunteers abroad through a network of 220 VfP partners.  Among other activities, the VfP Office assisted in the recruitment of volunteers, promoted their good work, and helped VfP partners access federal programs for grants to support the deployment of volunteers.

Working with the Coordinator of the President’s Malaria Initiative at USAID, Admiral Tim Ziemer (U.S. Navy, RET), the VfP Office plans to reach out to U.S. non-profits and companies with a demonstrated commitment to combat malaria, help to identify and recruit skilled American health care professionals and others concerned with malaria, and assist these organizations in accessing federal programs for grants needed to deploy volunteers engaged in the fight against malaria.

The President and Mrs. Bush hosted The White House Summit on Malaria to discuss malaria in Africa and to highlight measures for combating this deadly disease. The objectives of the Summit were to: jump-start an ambitious public-private effort to control malaria; educate the American public about malaria; and send a message globally about the need for governments, NGOs, corporations, and private citizens to join together to control malaria.

Attendees at the Summit included international academic experts, representatives of multilateral institutions, including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund); leaders from corporations and non-profit foundations, African civic leaders, and delegates from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based and service organizations.

In June 2005, President Bush announced The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), a five-year, $1.2 billion program that challenges the private sector and other governmental donors to join the U.S. Government in reducing malaria 50 percent in 15 of the hardest-hit countries in Africa.  For more information on this initiative, please visit: www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/malaria/.

Volunteers for Prosperity was established by Executive Order 13317 on September 25, 2003.  VfP works with leading U.S. non-profits and companies to deploy highly skilled American professionals in volunteer opportunities that support the global health and prosperity goals of the U.S. Government.  VfP is part of the USA Freedom Corps, the White House’s coordinating council on volunteerism.  For more information, please visit www.volunteersforprosperity.gov.

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