Kigali (April 25, 2009) – “On World Malaria Day, Americans stand in solidarity with Rwanda and communities across the globe in the fight against malaria,” said Dennis Weller, Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Rwanda. “Today, we commemorate World Malaria Day with you, celebrate your achievements, and rededicate our historic partnership between Rwanda and the United States to defeat this preventable and treatable killer.”
Rwanda is one of 15 focus countries under the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), an historic $1.2 billion, five-year expansion of U.S. Government resources to fight malaria in Africa, the region most affected by this disease. The goal of this Initiative is to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50% in 15 countries with a high burden of malaria. It is led and implemented by USAID with the assistance of the Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Since PMI launch in 2005, the United States has reached more than 32 million people with malaria prevention or treatment measures. As a result of these efforts, and in collaboration with partners, an impact on malaria transmission is already being seen in PMI focus countries. In Rwanda, Zambia, and Zanzibar there have been major reductions in the number of people infected with malaria. Declines at the regional and district-level have also been reported from Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition, malaria prevention and treatment measures are associated with and can contribute to reductions in deaths of children under the age of five. This is already being seen in both Rwanda and Zambia.
Specifically, Rwanda has achieved remarkable success in recent years in malaria control due to the Government of Rwanda’s strong leadership and coordinated international donor support. The national malaria control program’s efforts have led to a four-fold increase in ownership of one or more insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to 57% and in the proportion of children under-5 sleeping under an ITN to 59%. This increased ITN ownership and use, together with targeted indoor residual spraying and the roll out of anti-malarial treatment in communities and at health facilities, has been associated with a fall in the prevalence of malaria to less than 3%, a reduction in under-5 childhood mortality of 32%, and a drop in the number of deaths due to malaria by more than 50%.
“It is because of this success that Rwanda had been asked to share its experience with key U.S. policy makers, donor representatives, and technical experts,” said Dennis Weller. “Yesterday, Rwanda Ambassador to the U.S. James Kimonyo and Dr. Corine Karema, Director of the Malaria Unit of TRAC-Plus, had a meeting on Capitol Hill to talk about Rwanda’s successful malaria control program and discuss how this experience can be applied in other parts of the world.”
Working with national governments and other donors, PMI has helped to rapidly scale up malaria prevention and treatment measures by delivering a package of high impact interventions that includes: insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs), indoor residual spraying (IRS) with insecticides, intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women (IPTp), and artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for malaria infections.
To date, across Africa, PMI has procured more than 6.4 million long-lasting ITNs for free distribution to pregnant women and young children and a total of 15.6 million ACT treatments. Indoor residual spraying activities have covered 6 million houses and protected nearly 25 million persons at risk of malaria. In addition, PMI has supported a broad range of health system strengthening and health education programs that have built host country capacities and promoted the sustainability of achievements.
Partnerships with host country governments; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the World Bank Booster Program for Malaria Control; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and others have made these successes possible. Successful partnerships with faith-based and community organizations are bringing tremendous value to malaria control efforts because of the credibility these groups have within their communities, their ability to reach the grassroots level, and their capacity to mobilize significant numbers of volunteers. PMI has supported more than 150 nonprofit organizations, over 40 of which are faith based.
