WASHINGTON, DC --- Malaria No More strongly supports President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) budget request to Congress, which prioritizes critical funding for malaria through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. President Obama has shown true leadership in the global effort to end the scourge of malaria by requesting an additional $71 million for PMI, for a total of $745 million in FY17. Furthermore, the President requests the authority to transfer an additional $129 million from remaining Ebola funds to combat malaria. Finally, the President requests $1.35 billion for the Global Fund in advance of the 5th Replenishment. If approved by Congress, the $200 million in additional funding for PMI will come at a critical time in the fight, helping to accelerate efforts toward ending this preventable and treatable disease.
As a direct result of the United States’ commitment to fighting malaria, there has been a 60 percent reduction in the rate of deaths from malaria in the past 15 years. Smart investments and sustained commitments have saved 6.2 million lives and averted 1.2 billion malaria cases since 2000. Yet half of the world’s population remains at risk. Each year, 438,000 people still die from the mosquito-borne disease, most of them children in Africa.
“This critical funding will save the lives of millions of children and pregnant women, and if approved, will set the world on a path toward ending this disease,” said Martin Edlund, CEO of Malaria No More. “Fighting malaria is one of the most cost-effective international development interventions. The tools to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease are proven and inexpensive, and the resulting health and economic benefits are enormous.”
Since taking office, President Obama has expanded the groundbreaking efforts of President George W. Bush, who made fighting malaria a top U.S. global health priority through enormously successful investments in PMI and the Global Fund.
Malaria No More strongly supports the President’s request and stands ready to work with the longstanding Republican and Democratic malaria champions in Congress. Historic progress has demonstrated that this funding will achieve immediate and accountable results: stopping this global health threat and saving millions of lives on behalf of the American people.
