Happy Anniversary to the US President’s Malaria Initiative

Posted juin 30, 2020
Impact Area Malaria

Dear Colleagues,

Today, 30 June 2020, marks fifteen years since the founding of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). PSI is pleased to join the malaria community in celebrating the success and impact of the inter-agency initiative. Happy 15th Anniversary, PMI!

PMI is the U.S. Government’s most effective, and cost-effective, investment in global health. PMI has contributed significantly to leadership in the global fight against malaria by scaling up proven, life-saving interventions, working in partnership with national malaria programs and other stakeholders, and driving innovation. Thanks to the bipartisan, bicameral support of the U.S. Congress, from 2005 to 2020, PMI has grown from three focus countries to twenty-seven focus countries. PMI has contributed to nearly seven million lives saved from malaria and one billion malaria cases averted globally since 2000.

From the early days of PMI, PSI has been a steadfast partner. Currently, PSI is proud to partner with PMI to implement global and bilateral flagship mechanisms to increase access and use of vector control interventions, improve the quality of malaria case management and malaria in pregnancy interventions, and increase quality and use of data for decision making. PSI looks forward to continued partnership with PMI in the many countries where we work. Looking toward the future, PSI calls on PMI and the U.S. Congress to sustain and increase funding for research and design of new tools to combat malaria, and increase private sector engagement, which is critical in this effort.

Again, Happy 15th Anniversary, PMI! PSI looks forward to many additional years of collaboration in the global fight against malaria.

Sincerely,

Tarryn Haslam

The text below was originally posted on PMI Impact Malaria’s blog.

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the launch of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). Together with its partners, PMI has saved millions of lives and contributed to substantial gains in education, productivity, and economic development.

The creation of PMI marked a turning point in the global fight against malaria. In 2005 when PMI was announced, malaria killed almost 1.2 million people worldwide. In contrast, according to the most recent World Malaria Report, there were an estimated 405,000 malaria-related deaths in 2018.

It’s hard to imagine, but in 2005 the concepts of “advancing malaria service delivery” and “accelerating progress towards malaria elimination” were obscure, even within the global malaria community. Now, PMI Impact Malaria’s work of supporting countries to strengthen diagnosis, treatment, and drug-based prevention is widely understood as central to fighting malaria and saving lives.

As PMI’s flagship global service delivery project, we’ve been working closely with 14 of PMI’s focus countries during the first two years of the project and are now supporting 20. Explore our new country pages to learn more about PMI Impact Malaria’s country-driven work of advancing malaria service delivery.

And on this landmark day, let’s be sure to especially recognize the crucial role that PMI has played in protecting those who are most vulnerable to malaria—primarily pregnant women and young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Check out our recent 3-minute storytelling video on preventing malaria in pregnancy as a reminder of how important this PMI-supported work is for women and their families.

On behalf of the entire PMI Impact Malaria team, we say happy anniversary PMI, and congratulations on 15 years of leading the fight to end malaria!

Ricki Orford, PMI Impact Malaria Senior Project Director

PMI Impact Malaria is led by Population Services International (PSI) in partnership with Jhpiego, Medical Care Development International (MCDI), and UCSF.

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Clients who received counseling with the digital Smart Start tool reported a higher understanding of their options and were more likely to choose contraception (74 percent) compared to those counseled with the manual version of Smart Start (64 percent). Navigators also found the digital tool more effective in connecting with clients, leading to higher ratings for the quality of their counseling.

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Seven years ago, the landscape of HIV self-testing lacked global guidelines, and only the U.S., the UK and France had policies in place that allowed for HIV self-testing. High disease burdened countries in low-and-middle-income-countries (LMICs) lacked evidence and guidance for HIVST despite major gaps in HIV diagnosis.

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Happy Anniversary to the US President’s Malaria Initiative

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