USAID Health: Infectious diseases, malaria

Saving Lives

Every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria. At least 1 million infants and children under 5 in sub-Saharan Africa die each year from the mosquito-borne disease.

A Global Leader in Fighting Malaria

USAID has been committed to saving lives and fighting malaria since the 1950s. The Agency works closely with national governments to build their capacity to prevent and treat the disease. USAID also invests in the discovery and development of new antimalarial drugs and malaria vaccines.

In addition to its ongoing malaria programs, the Agency also manages programs through the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), a $1.2 billion, five-year initiative to control malaria in Africa announced by former President Bush in June 2005. PMI is a collaborative U.S. Government effort led by USAID, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the Department of State, the White House, and others.

The goal of PMI is to reduce malaria deaths by half in 15 target countries in Africa by reaching 85 percent of the most vulnerable groups - children under 5 years of age and pregnant women - with proven and effective malaria prevention and treatment control measures: insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor residual spraying, lifesaving antimalarial drugs, and treatment to prevent malaria in pregnant women.

The 15 PMI focus countries were brought into the Initiative in a phased fashion:

- Beginning fiscal year (FY) 2006: Angola, Tanzania, and Uganda

- Beginning FY 2007: Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Senegal

- Beginning FY 2008: Benin, Ethiopia (Oromia Region), Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, and Zambia

PMI funding in FY 2006 was $30 million, rose to $135 million in FY 2007, to $300 million in FYs 2008 and 2009, and will increase to $500 million in FY 2010.

In each of the focus countries, PMI works closely with ministries of health and national malaria control programs and supports their national malaria control strategies and plans in coordination with other national and international partners, including the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the World Bank Malaria Booster Program, UNICEF, World Health Organization Global Malaria Program, and nongovernmental organizations, including faith-based and community groups, academia, and the private sector.

The Agency also provides support to malaria control efforts in three other nonfocus countries in Africa - Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and Southern Sudan - and to two regional malaria control efforts in the Amazon Basin of South America and the Mekong Delta region of Southeast Asia. The latter two programs focus primarily on issues related to the identification and containment of antimalarial drug resistance.