Bush unveils anti-malaria plan
2008-02-18 15:36
Arusha - United States President George W Bush on Monday unveiled a new plan to distribute special bed-nets to defend every Tanzanian child aged one to five from the mosquitoes that spread deadly malaria.
"This is one of the simplest technologies imaginable, but it's also one of the most effective," Bush said after touring Meru District Hospital in Tanzania's safari capital Arusha, in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The American president highlighted US support for the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, pointing to campaigns to spray insecticide, treat children and pregnant women, and hand out insecticide-bearing bed-nets.
"Today, I'm pleased to announce new steps in the bed-net campaign. Within the next six months, the US and Tanzania, in partnership with the World Bank and the Global Fund, will begin distributing 5.2 million free bed-nets," he said.
"This ambitious nationwide programme will provide enough nets to protect every child between the ages of one and five in Tanzania," said Bush, who was here on the second leg of a week-long, five-country trip to Africa.
Malaria kills 1.2m annually
The US president had used his visit - which began in Benin on Saturday, and would take him to Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia before he heads back to Washington - to highlight US-African co-operation to battle disease and poverty.
Malaria remained the number one cause of death among children under five in Africa. The United Nations World Health Organisation estimated that 1.2 million people die of the disease every year, mostly children.
According to the Roll Back Malaria campaign, using the insecticide-treated net cuts the chance of catching malaria in half. The disease caused headaches, high fevers, vomiting and other symptoms.
"The suffering caused by malaria is needless, and every death caused by malaria is unacceptable," Bush said at the hospital here, before going to visit the factory that makes the nets, A to Z Textile Mills.
Insecticide stays potent for 5 years
Called the Nguvu ya Ajabu (Magic Power) Olyset net, the innovation was launched in 2004 in the Arusha factory, which was now churning out 10 million of these bug barriers every year, sold throughout 25 African countries.
Made from a synthetic weave that was impregnated with the insecticide permethrin, the net was the result of a partnership between the Tanzanian factory and the Japanese chemical giant Sumitomo Chemicals.
A to Z was the only factory in Africa to produce the life-saving net, which repelled mosquitoes carrying the parasite that causes the disease. The insecticide stayed potent for five years.
Bush also highlighted the anti-malaria initiative he launched in 2005, a five-year, $1.2bn programme, in partnership with 15 African countries, to cut deaths from the disease in half.
On Sunday, he defended his decision to earmark one third of a popular, roughly $15bn fund to fight HIV/Aids for programmes that preached abstinence from sexual activity, amid warnings from his Democratic critics and health experts that such money would be better used elsewhere.