8 African nations added to US anti-malaria plan

WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) President George W Bush has named eight more countries to get US assistance for malaria prevention and treatment in Africa, where the disease kills a million people a year, and asked Europeans to do more to help.

''The goal of defeating malaria is a challenging goal, yet it can be done. It's not going to require a miracle. It just requires a smart, sustained, focused effort,'' Bush said at a summit he convened bringing together leaders in the global fight against malaria.

The mosquito-borne disease is caused by a parasite. Most deaths are among children under age 5 in sub-Saharan Africa.

Bush last year announced a five-year, 1.2 billion dollar programme intended to halve malaria-related deaths in 15 hard-hit countries in Africa. The money is going toward bed nets that protect against mosquito bites while a person sleeps, insecticide spraying and antimalarial drugs.

But there are questions as to whether Congress will produce funding levels sought by the White House.

Bush said eight countries -- Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Zambia, Kenya, Liberia, Ethiopia and Benin -- will be added to the US effort in 2008. Bush met earlier at the White House with Benin's visiting president, Thomas Boni Yayi, and praised his willingness to help anti-malaria efforts.

The US initiative already has started in Uganda, Angola and Tanzania. The White House previously said it would be expanded in 2007 to include Senegal, Malawi, Rwanda and Mozambique.

Bush cited action by businesses, private foundations, the World Bank and others against malaria, but said more must be done.

''Some of our allies in Europe have committed resources to these efforts. And frankly, they should commit more,'' Bush said without naming countries.

'SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE' Bush said malaria inflicts a financial cost of 12 billion dollar a year on sub-Saharan Africa.

''And if the disease continues to spread, the cost in lives and lost productivity is going to grow exponentially worse. Now is the time to act. Allowing Africa to continue on that path is just simply unacceptable,'' Bush said.

First lady Laura Bush, who hosted the summit with her husband, drew attention to efforts by US school children to raise money to buy bed nets. She said the president's initiative already has helped 6 million Africans and should benefit 30 million more next year.

Malaria has become resistant to some drugs, and work on a vaccine has been slow. It also is intertwined with the AIDS epidemic in Africa. New research showed people with malaria are more likely to transmit the virus that causes AIDS to sex partners.

World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said his organization has committed 357 million dollar to 14 countries under an anti-malaria program set up last year, and said the bank's board this week approved a grant of 180 million dollar to help in vulnerable parts of Nigeria.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the largest international financier of anti-malaria efforts, said it had committed 2.6 billion dollar to combat malaria in 84 countries since 2002.

REUTERS DKS PM0522