I welcome the appointment of new U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator Dr. Kenneth Staley.

I had the distinct honor to lead the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) from 2006 to 2017. PMI is an inter-agency initiative led by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented together with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Dr. Staley will be supported by an extremely dedicated, passionate, and goal-oriented workforce. And he takes the helm of a key U.S. foreign assistance commitment that continues to have a significant measurable impact in lives saved and disease reduction in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, helping hundreds of millions of people each year.

Malaria prevention and control is an important U.S. foreign assistance priority and a component of the U.S. Government’s national security strategy. Foreign assistance investments by the U.S. Government empower people, communities, and economies to progress on the path to poverty reduction and self-reliance.

And in our increasingly interconnected society, a health threat anywhere is a threat everywhere. In addition to improving health outcomes, PMI is accelerating progress toward a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats. PMI is improving county capacity to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks and directly contributing to Global Health Security Agenda objectives.

Dr. Staley takes the helm of PMI at a pivotal time. Malaria still kills 445,000 people each year, mostly children under age five, and sickens hundreds of millions more, often over and over again. As many as 91% of these deaths occur in Africa.

Malaria is a vital investment because control of the disease is central to improving child survival and maternal health, and contributes substantially to eradicating extreme poverty and improving educational outcomes. Ending malaria’s scourge will have a long-term, transformative impact on millions of lives, and adding trillions of dollars in additional economic output.

R. Timothy Ziemer
Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biothreats, National Security Council & former U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator