[afro-nets] UN Agencies Welcome New US Initiative to Fight Malaria

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

UN Agencies Welcome New US Initiative to Fight Malaria
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New York, June 30 2005 2:00PM

Stressing that malaria kills more than 1 million people every
year, United Nations agencies today hailed the announcement of a
major new United States initiative to fund prevention and treat-
ment in Africa as a great step forward in fighting a disease
that casts a terrible shadow across the continent.

"Malaria is a major killer of children in sub-Saharan Africa,
taking a child's life every 30 seconds," UN Children's Fund
(http://www.unicef.org/media/media_27544.html) Executive Direc-
tor Ann Veneman said, calling the commitment "a great step for-
ward for child health and survival.

"This generous funding from the American people will save young
lives. And it will improve the health and development of mil-
lions of children. UNICEF will do all it can to support the re-
cipient countries to get the job done," she added of the initia-
tive, which provides funding of $1.2 billion over five years.

"With proven tools of prevention such as insecticide-treated bed
nets, proven new methods of delivering them, and proven new
drugs to treat malaria, we are in a position to make major
strides against this killer," she said.
(http://www.who.int/topics/malaria/en/index.html)

The Director-General of the UN World Health Organization, Lee
Jong-wook, called the U.S. initiative a timely and substantial
boost to global efforts against the disease.
(http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2005/s04/en/index.html)

"Malaria casts a terrible shadow across the African continent,"
he said. "It kills more than one million people every year, most
of them children.

Noting that President George W. Bush challenged other donors,
foundations and organizations from the public and private sector
to contribute to the struggle against malaria, he added: "The
World Health Organization looks forward to continuing to work
closely with the United States government and other partners to
pursue the global goal of rolling back malaria."

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