Under a programme USAID said is meant to build on Ethiopia's successes against ancient killer, the financial assistance will be channelled through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Tagged "Sustaining Malaria Reduction Interventions in Oromia,â? the programme will increase access to effective diagnostic tests and medicines to manage malaria cases and promote household ownership and proper use of insecticide-treated bednets, according to a US Embassy press statement.
Through UNICEF, USAID will procure and distribute 3.7 million rapid diagnostic tests for use by health staff and health extension workers; distribute 9.4 million treatments of medicines to fully treat confirmed malaria infections in Oromia; and procure and distribute 3.9 million bednets and support the distribution of nets from other partners sources including the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), the World Bank and The Carter Centre.
'Ethiopia is making great progress in scaling up malaria prevention and control interventions,' according to USAID/Ethiopia Mission Director Thomas H. Staal. 'The key to saving lives is to expand proven approaches and interventions until they reach people at risk of the disease.'
Ethiopia is one of the focus countries under the US President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), an initiative which aims to reduce the number of malaria deaths in 15 African countries by half using proven malaria interventions.
It is a collaborative US Government effort led by USAID, in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services (US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention), the Department of State, and others.
Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer, the US Global Malaria Coordinator, Dr. Tewodros Adhanom, Ethiopia's Health Minister, and Roger Meece, Chargé d'Affaires of US Embassy in Addis Ababa, were at the grant agreement signed between USAID/Ethiopia and UNICEF.
PMI financed activities in Ethiopia primarily focus on Oromia Regional State, the country's largest administrative region and the one that bears the brunt of the country's malaria burden.
Addis Ababa - 12/11/2009
Pana
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