In conjunction with World Malaria Day, and in accordance with the requirements of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Lantos-Hyde), the U.S. Government (USG), through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), today released a comprehensive strategy to combat malaria globally.
Archives for Health
World Malaria Day – 2010
April 25, 2010, marks the third annual World Malaria Day, a day set aside to call attention to malaria and to mobilize action to combat it. The U.S. Government, on behalf of the American people, has taken extraordinary steps to curb the spread of this preventable and curable disease. Since 2006, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) has helped 15 high-burden countries in Africa dramatically scale up effective malaria prevention and treatment interventions; during 2009 alone, PMI reached more than 50 million people. Many of the countries where PMI has been working have reported significant reductions in deaths in children under the age of five. There is strong and growing evidence that malaria prevention and control are a major factor in these reductions.
Afghanistan: Midwives Graduate from Hirat Institute of Health Sciences
U.S. Embassy Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs Ambassador E. Anthony Wayne and Acting Minister of Public Health Dr. Suraya Dalil joined Hirat Governor Yusuf Nuristani and regional Afghan health officials and members of the international donor community at a graduation ceremony for 40 midwives yesterday from the Hirat Institute of Health Sciences.
Afghanistan has the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world. About every 30 minutes a mother dies giving birth in Afghanistan, and 77 percent of these deaths are due to factors that could be avoided with proper health care. The neonatal mortality rate is also high in Afghanistan, with 60 newborns out of every 1,000 dying in the first month of life. “The Ministry of Public Health will be working to ensure that public health services are available to all Afghans, and maternal child care is one of our biggest concerns,” said Acting Minister of Public Health (MoPH) Dr. Suraya Dalil.
