Press release

Africa Malaria Day:
U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative provides $16 million for Senegal in 2007

DAKAR, April 25, 2007 – The United States will provide $16 million (8 billion FCFA) this year alone for malaria prevention and treatment in Senegal as part of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). Senegal was chosen as one of 15 African countries benefiting from this assistance.

PMI support will eventually reach all regions of Senegal with four essential malaria prevention and treatment activities that will:

• Train health workers to treat cases of malaria with the most effective drugs available (artemesinin-combination therapy, or ACT);
• Prevent malaria in pregnancy with prophylactic drugs;
• Distribute and promote the use of long-lasting, insecticide-treated bednets; and
• Spray homes with insecticide to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Already, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partners have completed a nationwide survey on malaria conditions, re-treated over 87,000 mosquito nets and will start campaigns next month to spray the walls of homes in the districts Nioro, Richard Toll, and Vélingara.

Distribution of 200,000 insecticide-treated bednets for children will also begin ahead of this year’s rainy season, during Senegal’s national micronutrient days. In addition, a long-lasting mosquito net voucher system for pregnant women and children under five years of age is being expanded from 20 health facilities in six districts to 184 health facilities in 24 districts, covering five of Senegal’s 11 regions.

 “On April 25, the United States marks its first Malaria Awareness Day and we commemorate Africa Malaria Day in Senegal,” said Ambassador Janice L. Jacobs. “All Americans stand in solidarity with the Senegalese people in the fight against this disease and the great hope for a better future for African children and families."

Across the continent, PMI is already saving lives and has reached more than 6 million people. This year, up to 30 million people are expected to benefit from lifesaving treatment and prevention measures as PMI expands its programs.

In the first year, a rapid startup produced significant results including protecting over two million people with indoor residual spraying campaigns, distributing or retreating over two million insecticide treated nets, procuring over 1.2 million treatments of highly effective ACT medication and one million rapid diagnostic test kits, and training 10,000 health workers in malaria prevention and/or treatment.

The PMI is an interagency initiative led by USAID, with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as key partners.  The goal of the PMI is to assist national malaria control programs to cut malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in the 15 focus countries in Africa by supporting a comprehensive malaria control effort led by national malaria control programs. 

President Bush's commitment of an additional $1.2 billion over five years is unprecedented in the fight against malaria. The goals of PMI are ambitious: reduce by 50 percent the number of deaths from malaria in 15 target countries, by reaching 85 percent of the most vulnerable groups — children under five years of age and pregnant women — with proven and effective prevention and treatment measures. PMI is a rapid, but comprehensive and sustainable approach to saving lives. 

In addition, the Malaria Communities Program (MCP), a new grants program to provide $30 million over four years to new  partners, will support the efforts of communities and indigenous organizations to combat malaria at the local level in the 15 PMI focus countries with the goal of building, sustainable malaria-control programs in Africa.

The MCP will identify and enable groups to become new partners in malaria control in Africa, specifically aiming to:

• Identify organizations uniquely positioned to work at the community level in the 15 PMI focus countries;
• Increase local and indigenous capacity to undertake community-based malaria prevention and treatment activities;
• Build local ownership of malaria control for the long term; and
• Extend coverage of PMI and National Malaria Control Plan (NMCP) efforts to reach a larger beneficiary population with malaria prevention and control interventions.

The MCP will offer technical and capacity-building assistance to successful applicants focusing on successful program implementation, needs analysis, and organizational strengthening, and offer possible mentoring relationships with established USAID partners.

For more information about PMI, visit its website at www.pmi.gov

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