On February 21, 2012, USAID released the final report by an external evaluation team of the first five years (FY 2006 – FY 2010) of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). PMI is a major component of the U.S. Government’s Global Health Initiative (GHI), announced by President Barack Obama in May 2009. PMI, led by USAID and implemented together with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was launched in June 2005 by President George W. Bush to reduce the intolerable burden of malaria and help relieve poverty on the African continent.
Last year, PMI commissioned an external Evaluation Team to review its performance. PMI leadership agrees with the overall findings and believes that the 10 main recommendations are both relevant and useful for program improvement.
The evaluators gave the PMI high marks in effective leadership, good management and participatory processes. “PMI performed well in putting its operating principles into practice. Rapid and efficient start-up of activities were facilitated by excellent and creative program management by senior USAID personnel. The Malaria Operational Plan process is also considered to be an ‘excellent’ process by nearly all National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) managers. Overall, it was observed that the Resident Advisors – made up of USAID and CDC – played a significant technical and leadership role. Their performance and contributions were recognized and appreciated by partners and National Malaria Control Programs, especially contributions and support to Global Fund proposal development.”
“The conclusion that ‘PMI is by-and-large a very successful, well-led component of the U.S. Government Global Health Initiative,’ is a direct result of superb leadership and execution of PMI programs at the country level,” said Adm. Ziemer, Global Malaria Coordinator. “It is because of their hard work and the strength of our partnerships at the country level that we are seeing significant progress in achieving malaria control and ultimately saving lives.”