On World Malaria Day 2023, the U.S. Global Malaria Coordinator Dr. David Walton announced that the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) intends to form partnerships with three new countries—Burundi, The Gambia, and Togo—to expand its work around the world.
The Gambia, Togo, and Burundi would join 24 existing PMI partner countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which are shaded here in blue.
Partnering with the three additional countries would enable PMI to fulfill its mandate to reduce malaria cases and deaths by bringing life saving tools and treatments to more of those in need. Co-implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, PMI works with partner country governments and national malaria programs to plan and implement malaria control activities.
Dr. Walton said, “Mosquitoes don’t respect borders. Expanding to additional countries in the West and East Africa corridors would provide increased protection from malaria for people in both new and existing partner countries. The expansion would also enable PMI to further leverage existing U.S. government investments for maximum impact, including those in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. ”
“Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest diseases and the United States remains committed to working with partners across the globe to achieve our vision of a malaria-free world,” added Dr. Walton.
The expansion would increase the total number of PMI partner countries to 30, with 27 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and three programs in the Greater Mekong Subregion in Southeast Asia—countries that account for almost 90 percent of the world’s malaria cases and deaths.
PMI has helped lead global efforts that have saved 11.7 million lives and prevented more than 2 billion malaria infections since 2000.
The planned additions would be the first expansion for the Initiative since 2017, when Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Sierra Leone joined as partner countries.