Ambassador Speeches

Remarks by Ambassador Martinez at the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) Announcement Event

Lusaka
December 15, 2006

Honorable Minister of Health, Ms. Angela Cifire,
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Simon Miti,
Director for Public Health and Research, Ministry of Health, Dr. Victor Mukonka
USAID/Zambia Mission Director, Mr. Jim Bednar
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentleman
All protocols observed

I’m happy to join the President of the United States and Mrs. Bush in announcing that Zambia has been selected as a focus country under the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). This important initiative was announced yesterday during a White House Summit on Malaria held in Washington, DC.

The President’s Malaria Initiative is investing 1.2 billion dollars over five years to cut malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 focus countries in Africa. Although malaria is a preventable disease, it continues to kill nearly 3,000 children every day and claims over one million lives a year throughout the continent.

In Zambia, malaria accounts for nearly 4.3 million clinical cases and an estimated 50,000 deaths per year. Incidence rates have tripled over the past 30 years due to resistance to chloroquine, reduced mosquito control, decreased access to health care, HIV/AIDS and poverty.

Zambia has made important progress is combating this disease over the past few years by changing to a more effective first-line treatment utilizing the drug CoArtem, revitalizing the indoor residual spraying program, making preventive treatment available to pregnant women and scaling up access to insecticide-treated nets. Zambia is also playing a leadership role in the international Roll Back Malaria initiative and attracting and effectively using resources from a variety of partners.

With ongoing interventions to prevent and treat malaria currently being scaled up, Zambia is poised to make significant gains in fighting malaria. The American people, through the US Government, are proud to be a partner in this effort. Providing support to the Government of Zambia’s National Malaria Strategy is one of our top priorities.

In October, I was honored to accompany the Honorable Minister for Health and the USAID Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Global Health, Dr. Kent Hill to Ng’ombe Township in Lusaka to launch this year’s national Indoor Residual Spraying program. Dr. Hill presented, on behalf of the U.S. Government and the American people, insecticides worth $853,000 to the Ministry of Health National Malaria Control Center. This support was only one part of an overall $7.7 million contribution by the U.S. Government this year. I’m pleased to say that the spraying has already started in Lusaka and other districts where more than 700,000 structures will be sprayed. As a result, about 4.5 million people will be protected against malaria.

The U.S. Government, through USAID, also supports other key interventions under the Zambia National Malaria Strategy. For example, Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets are being provided to pregnant women and children under five through public sector antenatal clinics. USAID also assists the Ministry of Health to strengthen diagnosis and treatment of malaria, and reduce the risk of malaria during pregnancy through intermittent preventive therapy.

I call upon the private sector to join the Zambian and U.S. Governments in this effort. Yesterday, the White House brought together international experts, multilateral institutions, African civic leaders, NGOs, faith-based and service organizations, corporations, and foundations to discuss and highlight measures for controlling malaria and explore ways to work together and build bridges of compassion and hope through partnerships. This will ultimately save lives. Although the Zambian private sector has demonstrated its support for many areas of need, now is the time for the private sector to increase its partnership with the public sector to combat malaria.

In addition to the 15 Presidential Malaria Initiative focus countries, the United States continues to combat malaria around the world, including Asia and South America. We also continue to work closely with other cooperating partners supporting malaria control in Zambia, including the Global Fund, the World Bank, The World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation MACEPA program, JICA, and UNICEF, as well as other multilateral and bilateral organizations.

The U.S. Government looks forward to this new opportunity to deepen and strengthen our collaboration with the Government of Zambia and other local and international partners to control and combat malaria.