Whats New
U.S. Embassy Hosts Press Conference on Joint Efforts of USA, Angola, ESSO and UN in the Fight against Malaria
The U.S. Embassy in Luanda hosted a Press Conference on December 20th during which the American Government, the Ministry of Health, Esso Angola (an ExxonMobil subsidiary), and the United Nations spoke about their joint efforts in the fight against malaria in Angola.
These efforts, funded by the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), were reinforced by the White House Malaria Summit which took place on December 14th in Washington, D.C. The Summit, which was hosted by President Bush and the First Lady Mrs. Bush, brought together leaders from the public and private sectors, including African countries receiving, and being considered for, funding from the PMI. This event emphasized the ambitious efforts to control malaria thus far and sought to further mobilize the world in the fight against malaria.
The PMI is contributing $1.2 billion, a historic amount, to control malaria in 15 of the most affected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Angola is one of these countries. During the Summit, it was announced that the PMI budget will rise, and will provide the most effective and advanced interventions for prevention and treatment to fight malaria. Every year, malaria kills more than one million people, the majority of these being children under-five and pregnant women. The goal of the PMI is to cut the incidence of deaths related to malaria by 50 percent and reach 85 percent of the most vulnerable groups.
To date, key interventions in Angola include the training of 350 spray personnel and indoor residual spraying for more than 590,000 residents in southern Angola; as part of the nationwide campaign Viva a Vida com Saúde, the PMI and its partners distributed approximately 830,000 long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets to young children in seven provinces with the highest rates of malaria; and, finally, the PMI has purchased 575,000 treatments of Coartem, an artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) that is among the newest and most effective malaria drugs available, which will help save people in 25 districts from the scourge of malaria.
During the Press Conference, the U.S. Embassy's Chargé d'Affairs Francisco Fernandez, the Minister of Health Sebastião Veloso, Esso Angola's Medicine & Occupational Health Manager Dr. Ana Margarida Setas Ferreira, and the UN Acting Resident Coordinator Anatólio Ndongo Mba, spoke of the impact and importance of the PMI. Distinguished guests representing the national programs for Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and Tuberculosis, as well as leaders of national and international NGOs and private sector companies also attended the event.
