USA/FILE: U.S President George Bush boosts initiave to curb malaria mortality rates in Africa

U.S. President George Bush on Thursday (December 14) boosted the United States' commitment to curb malaria rates in Africa by adding eight more nations to a concentrated program lower rates of the deadly disease. Additional countries added to the malaria initiative were Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali and Zambia. Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Senegal were already a part of the program. President Bush said "The goal of defeating malaria is a challenging goal, yet it can be done. It's not going to require a miracle, it just requires a smart sustained focused effort." Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite that kills about a million people annually, most of them young children in Africa south of the Sahara. Bed nets to protect against mosquito bites, insecticides and anti-malaria drugs are effective ways to combat it. The White House brought together experts at a summit to shine a spotlight on the fight against malaria and encourage other countries, corporations, non-governmental organizations and others to contribute to the effort. President George W. Bush last year announced a five-year, $1.2 billion program intended to cut malaria-related deaths in half in 15 hard-hit countries in Africa. The global fund, committing $2.6 billion to combat malaria in 84 countries since 2002, has also provided anti-malarial drugs to treat millions of people with the disease. People with malaria experience fever, chills and flu-like symptoms. Left untreated, it can cause severe complications and death. Worldwide. there are at least 300 million acute cases annually. About 90 percent of the deaths occur in Africa.

ITN Source | December 15, 2006

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