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Recognizing Africa Malaria Day

Date: April 27, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Foreign Affairs Health and Health Care


RECOGNIZING AFRICA MALARIA DAY -- (Extensions of Remarks - April 27, 2006)

* Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Africa Malaria Day and express my support and admiration for the determined public health officials, NGOs, clinicians and communities that are working to defeat this preventable disease that takes its greatest toll on the pregnant women and children of Africa.

* Each year, 300-500 million people in Africa contract malaria. One to three million Africans will unnecessarily die, Every thirty seconds an African child under the age of five dies. Nearly four percent of all maternal deaths annually are the result of malaria. The battle against malaria is ranked as the second highest global disease burden in Africa.

* Despite these tragic statistics, there is great hope for beating the disease and reducing the human cost it inflicts. Through contributions and collaborations of the public and private sectors, great strides have been made in the fight against malaria. Insecticide treated nets have been distributed to the vulnerable populations in pilot projects. Another project sprayed residual insecticides inside houses to repel mosquitoes from places where people sleep. Successful trials of a pediatric vaccine are being carried out, with the hope of a widely accessible vaccine available in 2010. Without the dedication of both governments and independent organizations, these amazing advances would not have been possible.

* Mr. Speaker, please join me in calling attention to the plight of millions of families across the African continent, on this 2006 Africa Malaria Day, who needlessly get sick and become incapacitated missing school and work and in the worst cases die. The U.S. has rightly taken on a global leadership role in providing the financial resources and the scientific research to minimize malaria's heavy burden. We must continue to support those working to fight this disease and those millions whose lives can be immeasurably improved by ending malaria's costly human toll.

http://thomas.loc.gov

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