HHS Secretary and the Minister of Secondary and Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Republic of Mali Conclude Arrangement to Cooperate on Malaria and Other Tropical Diseases

November 17, 2008 – Signing of the International Center of Excellence in Research Arrangement in Bamako, Mali.  (Left to right) the Honorable Amadou Touré, Minister of Secondary and Higher Education and Scientific Research; the Honorable Gillian A. Milovanovic, U.S. Ambassador to Mali; and Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, Principal Deputy Director of the HHS/NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

November 17, 2008 – Signing of the International Center of Excellence in Research Arrangement in Bamako, Mali.  (Left to right) the Honorable Amadou Touré, Minister of Secondary and Higher Education and Scientific Research; the Honorable Gillian A. Milovanovic, U.S. Ambassador to Mali; and Dr. Hugh Auchincloss, Principal Deputy Director of the HHS/NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

November 17, 2008 – The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Honorable Michael O. Leavitt, and the Minister of Secondary and Higher Education and Scientific Research of the Republic of Mali, the Honorable Amadou Touré, have signed an Arrangement for the continuation of cooperation on an International Center of Excellence in Research (ICER) at the University of Bamako.  This Arrangement builds on past documents signed by the HHS National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry (now a component of the University of Bamako).  It extends the research collaboration between HHS/NIH and the Mali ICER in specific scientific areas, including epidemiology, medicinal research, molecular biology, medical entomology, acarology, parasitology, immunology, bacteriology, microbiology, and virology, focused on techniques for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tropical and infectious diseases.  The Arrangement also links these research efforts to the prevention and treatment work in Mali under President Bush’s Malaria Initiative, for which Mali is one of 15 focus countries.

Secretary Leavitt visited the Mali ICER program (located at the Malaria Research and Training Center) during his trip to Mali in August 2008, to understand the impact of current research activities in malaria supported by HHS/NIH, and to interact with faculty, students and staff from the School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry of the University of Bamako.

Minister Touré signed the Arrangement at a dinner event in Bamako, organized by the Rector of the University of Bamako on November 17, 2008, during Mali’s National Education Week, concurrent with the 2008 Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health.  The U.S. Ambassador to Mali, the Honorable Gillian A. Milovanovic, was present during the signing ceremony, along with visiting HHS/NIH officials.  Secretary Leavitt signed the Arrangement in Washington, D.C., a few days earlier.

For more information on the Mali ICER, visit

• http://obtoure.africa-web.org/MRTC.htm (Malaria Research & Training Center, Bamaho, Mali)

For more information on the President’s Malaria Initiative, visit

• http://www.fightingmalaria.gov/index.html (President's Malaria Initiative)

For more information on HHS/NIH research into malaria, visit

• http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/Malaria/ (U.S. National Institutes of Health)
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Malaria/resprojects.html (U.S. National Institutes of Health)
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mimcom/mimcomhomepage.html (U.S. National Institutes of Health)

Last revised: November 20, 2008