President's Malaria Initiative contributing to 'major progress' against disease, should be expanded

Aug 9 2012

In this post in The Hill's "Congress Blog," Kent Campbell, director of the Malaria Control Program at PATH, and Jonathon Simon, chair of the Department of International Health and director of the Center for Global Health and Development at the Boston University School of Public Health, write that "major progress has been made in the fight against malaria, thanks in large part to the efforts of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI)," and call the effort "a shining example of the profound impact the U.S. is making in global health." They highlight a "recent external review of the first five years of its work," which "shows substantial progress toward PMI's goal of cutting malaria deaths by half in 15 African countries."

"According to evaluators, PMI is well-positioned to expand the U.S. government's (USG) malaria control efforts moving forward," they continue and discuss the PMI's key strengths as identified in the review. According to Campbell and Simon, these include "[e]ffective leadership, strong management, and bipartisan support," as well as the support of national entities in the field "so they can assume responsibility effectively." They note the evaluation "also offered recommendations as PMI plans for the future, and the simplest recommendation is also the most emblematic of the program's success: PMI should expand." They conclude, "Now more than ever, we must build on PMI's success and expand its reach so it can help high-burden countries carry their recent gains into the next decade" (8/7).