Podcast Transcript

14 December 2006

Ambassador Robert H. Tuttle: For a World Without Malaria

Malaria is a disease that claims no victims in Great Britain and America. But it kills 3,000 children a day in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Over a million lives are lost every year to malaria - lives that could be saved.

Today, December 14, President Bush is hosting the White House Summit on Malaria. We can defeat malaria, because it is largely a preventable disease. Today's summit will include international experts, multilateral institutions, African civic leaders, faith-based and service organizations, as well as corporations and foundations. They will discuss practical measures to control the disease and jump-start public/private collaboration.

The pioneering studies on how to prevent and treat malaria were carried out by British doctors and scientists. Sir Ronald Ross won a Nobel Prize in 1902 for identifying the mosquito as the carrier of the disease. Building on such scientific breakthroughs, we now understand malaria better - and we know that we can prevent a million deaths each year.

The United States is already working with 15 of the countries most affected by malaria to control and prevent this disease. Launched in June 2005, the "President's Malaria Initiative" (PMI) will devote $1.2 billion over five years to cut malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in these 15 focus countries. Those funds will provide spraying, mosquito nets and anti-malarial drug therapy. In the first three focus countries - Tanzania, Angola and Uganda - this practical help has already reached six million people.

There is much to be done, and people and governments worldwide are responding to the need. You can learn more about the White House Summit on Malaria at the White House website. One of the organizations to be featured at the summit is "Malaria No More," a non-profit organization that mobilizes private sector support for anti-malaria initiatives.

Malaria exacts an enormous human and economic toll, more than a million preventable deaths every year. Today's White House Summit will mark a new chapter of collaboration and cooperation in the global effort to prevent and cure malaria. It can be done.

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