Launched in 2005 by President George W. Bush and expanded under President Barack Obama, the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) is a historic U.S. Government effort to lead the fight against malaria. Since the beginning of the Obama Administration, with the support of Congress, annual funding levels for PMI doubled.  

This investment has made a difference. Progress in combating malaria over the past 10 years represents one of the greatest success stories in the history of public health. Since 2000, the number of children who die from the disease has fallen by more than 50 percent.More than 6 million lives have been saved, and a vast majority of them have been young African children. We have helped loosen malaria's grip -- even in areas where it was tightest.

In 17 of PMI's focus countries, all-cause mortality rates among children under five years of age have significantly decreased since PMI was launched. These declines range from 18 percent (in both Liberia and Nigeria) to 55 percent (in both Senegal and Zambia). In FY 2015, PMI protected over 16 million people with spraying of homes, and procured more than 42 million long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets, 60 million antimalarial treatments, and more than 54 million rapid diagnostic tests.

We have made huge strides, but the job is not finished. The PMI strategy for 2015-2020, launched at the White House in early 2015, has a long-term vision of a world without malaria, by working with countries and partners to further reduce malaria deaths and substantially decrease malaria morbidity, toward the long-term goal of elimination. Last year, nearly half a million people still died of malaria. The vast majority were young children and pregnant women.

This is why President Obama set forth a long term vision of ending the scourge of malaria during the State of the Union on January 12th. To advance these goals and make leaps towards ending this scourge, the Administration is requesting $200 million in additional resources to bring total US funding to $874 million in FY 2017. This includes $71 million in new funding and $129 million via redirected Ebola funding. The FY 2017 Budget also requests $1.35 billion for the multilateral Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, & Malaria. Including the FY 2017 request, the Obama administration will have invested nearly $5.8 billion through the PMI, with over $11.5 billion through the Global Fund from FY 2009-2017.  

If Congress acts on this request, the PMI will:

  • Launch and expand programs in four countries in West Africa. This would expand PMI's reach to almost 70 million additional people at risk of malaria. PMI would add new programs in Sierra Leone, Cote D'Ivoire, and Cameroon and expand the program nationwide in Burkina Faso. 
  • With this expansion, the U.S. Government would be able to provide malaria prevention and control interventions to approximately 332 million people (92%) at risk across the West to Central African corridor from Senegal to Cameroon.
  • Work with partners to accelerate elimination efforts in Cambodia and Zambia. It will not be easy; but it's necessary to do if we are going to eliminate this disease. Cambodia is critical to control drug resistance, and Zambia is ambitious but achievable, and would catalyze elimination efforts elsewhere.
  • Procure 13.7 million insecticide treated bed nets and ensure that 27 million people remain protected from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Accelerate research, development and evaluation of new malaria tools focused on better diagnostics, vector control, and medicines.
But we can't do this alone. We are calling on all partners, countries and communities to join our efforts to end malaria. To learn more, visit pmi.gov. 
 

U.S. Government Leadership in the Fight against Malaria

  • PMI is led by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented together with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  • Under the FY 2017 Budget, PMI would include 23 focus countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) and three countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion in Southeast Asia (Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand).
  • PMI works with national malaria control programs in coordination with other national and international partners, including the Roll Back Malaria Partnership; the Global Fund; UNICEF; the Global Malaria Program of the World Health Organization; the UK Department for International Development (DFID); foundations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UN Foundation, and nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, community groups, academia, and the private sector.
  • PMI collaborates with other U.S. Government agencies, including the U.S. Peace Corps, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to integrate activities to maximize health sector investments and reduce duplication.
  • PMI has placed a strong emphasis on building the skills and capacity of Ministries of Health and district health leaders to manage and coordinate malaria control activities in their countries and strengthen health systems. PMI places a high priority on health systems strengthening. Investments include: building health worker capacity, strengthening supply chains that deliver stable supplies of essential commodities, and supporting health management information systems that record, monitor, and evaluate health impact. This has advanced health and development, and empowered countries to require all partners to work under a single national malaria control plan, rather than a series of uncoordinated donor-driven projects.
  • Together with countries (particularly national malaria control programs), local partners, donors, and multilateral organizations, we are bringing effective tools to the people who need them most -- women and children -- including insecticide-treated mosquito nets, intermittent preventive treatment of pregnant women, accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment, targeted coverage of indoor residual spraying, and seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaigns, where appropriate.