White House to host malaria summit in December

Washington, Aug 26 (UNI) US President George W Bush and first lady Laura Bush will host a White House summit in December that will seek to mobilize more support for an administration initiative to reduce the occurrence of malaria, according to a statement from the White House spokesman.

The summit will bring together parties from different quarters in government, the international community and the private sector to discuss and highlight measures for controlling malaria, a disease that kills close to 1.3 million people per year, and afflicts from 350 million to 500 million.

President Bush announced the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) in June 2005. It is a 1.2 billion dollar, five-year collaboration of several government agencies that attempts to take a comprehensive approach to preventing and treating malaria. The programme aims to reduce malaria in Africa by 50 percent by 2010.

Seven high-risk African nations currently are targeted, and 15 ultimately will be included.

''The summit will call on the private sector, foundations, voluntary organisations and school groups to complement the PMI by matching the US government's financial commitment and educating the public about malaria,'' the statement said.

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