World Malaria Day Resolution Clears Senate Committee

On June 19, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved en bloc, by voice vote, a resolution supporting World Malaria Day (S. Res. 429).

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), contains findings, including:

• Young children and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to and disproportionately affected by malaria;
• Malaria greatly affects child health, as children under the age of five account for an estimated 85 percent of malaria deaths each year;
• Malaria poses great risks to maternal health, causing complications during delivery, anemia, and low birth weights, with estimates that malaria infection causes 400,000 cases of severe maternal anemia and between 75,000 and 200,000 infant deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa;
• Heightened national, regional, and international efforts to prevent and treat malaria over recent years have made measurable progress and helped save hundreds of thousands of lives;
• Continued national, regional, and international investment in efforts to eliminate malaria, including prevention and treatment efforts and the development of a vaccine to immunize children from the malaria parasite, is critical in order to continue to reduce malaria deaths, prevent backsliding in areas where progress has been made, and equip the United States and the global community with the tools necessary to fight malaria and other global health threats; and
• The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), recognizing the burden of malaria on many partner countries, has set a target of reducing the burden of malaria by 50 percent for 450 million people, representing 70 percent of the at-risk population in Africa, by 2015.

The legislation also would recognize the “importance of reducing malaria prevalence and deaths to improve overall child and maternal health, especially in sub-Saharan Africa” and would support “ongoing public-private partnerships to research and develop more effective and affordable tools for malaria diagnosis, treatment, and vaccination.”

World Malaria Day takes place annually on April 25.