USAID Malaria Programs
USAID and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) use a comprehensive approach to support the prevention and treatment of malaria. This includes:
Spraying with insecticides (“indoor residual spraying,” or IRS) in communities: IRS is the organized, timely spraying of an insecticide on the inside walls of houses or dwellings. It is designed to interrupt malaria transmission by killing adult female mosquitoes when they enter houses and rest on the walls after feeding, but before they can transmit the infection to another person. IRS has been used for decades and has helped eliminate malaria from many areas of the world, particularly where the mosquitoes are indoor-resting and where malaria is seasonally transmitted. PMI activities include conducting environmental assessments, training spray teams, procuring insecticide and equipment, and developing and evaluating spraying activities.
Insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs): Bednets treated with insecticide have been proved highly effective in killing mosquitoes. In addition, the netting acts as a protective barrier. Consistently sleeping under an ITN can decrease severe malaria by 45 percent, reduce premature births by 42 percent, and cut all-cause child mortality by 17 to 63 percent. PMI is expanding access to free and highly subsidized nets while also creating commercial markets in African countries.
Lifesaving drugs: Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are the most effective and rapidly acting drugs currently available for treating malaria. PMI activities include purchasing ACT drugs; setting up management and logistics systems for their distribution through the public and private sectors; and training health care workers and community caregivers in their use.
Intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women (IPTp): Each year, more than 30 million African women living in malaria-endemic areas become pregnant and are at risk for malaria. IPTp involves the administration of at least two doses of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to a pregnant woman through antenatal care services. The treatment helps to protect pregnant women against maternal anemia and low birthweight, which contributes to between 100,000 and 200,000 infant deaths annually in Africa. PMI activities include purchasing SP, training health care workers in administering the drug, and providing information about IPTp to pregnant women.
Developing new tools and approaches for malaria prevention and control. In collaboration with public and private partners, USAID focuses on developing and testing malaria vaccines through its Malaria Vaccine Development Program. Funding through the Environmental Health Project is developing tools for the targeting and cost-effective deployment of vector management interventions.
Addressing the needs of populations in complex humanitarian emergencies. There is a growing recognition that African populations in areas of war and conflict are at particular and increased risk of malaria. The Roll Back Malaria Partnership has estimated that countries affected by complex emergencies account for more than 30 percent of the world’s annual malaria mortality. USAID is supporting a five-year World Health Organization effort to roll back malaria in complex emergency situations, with particular focus on Sudan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Liberia.
USAID Issue Briefs
President's Malaria Initiative (PMI)
- PMI Website
- PMI Fact Sheet
- President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) E-Newsletter
This e-newsletter provides readers with the latest PMI news, country-specific activities, plus Q&A with Admiral R. Timothy Ziemer, U.S. Malaria Coordinator.
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