Skip to main content

PMI: Presidents Malaria Initiative - Saving lives in Africa.

PMI Results

 

Photo of a woman standing by a bed with a net hanging above it.
A beneficiary of an ITN campaign in Nimba County, Liberia, displays nets hung over sleeping spaces in her home.
Source: EQUIP/Liberia

The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) is a historic $1.2 billion, five-year expansion of U.S. Government resources to reduce the intolerable burden of malaria and help relieve poverty on the African continent. The goal of PMI is to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 countries with a high burden of malaria by expanding coverage of four highly effective malaria prevention and treatment measures to 85 percent of the most vulnerable populations - pregnant women and children under five years of age.

This section presents key results achieved under PMI. For more details, access the PMI Fourth Annual Report, April 2010 [PDF, 8MB].

 

 

 

Progress After Four Years of Implementation

PMI Results at a Glance

Achieving Impact

In all six PMI countries with paired nationwide household surveys, substantial reductions in all-cause mortality in children under five years of age have been documented; these reductions range from 19 to 36 percent (See graph below). This represents the cumulative effect of malaria funding by PMI, USG prior to PMI, national governments, and other donors.

While a variety of factors may be influencing the decline in under-five mortality rates, there is strong and growing evidence that malaria prevention and treatment efforts are playing a major role in these reductions. For example:

  •   Reductions in All-Cause Mortality Rates of Children Under Five in Six PMI Countries
      Graph of Decline in Malaria Prevalence and Severe anemai in children under five years of age, Zambia, 2006-2008
    In Senegal, a 30 percent reduction in all-cause mortality in children under five between 2005 and 2008 has been documented. Although several factors may be involved, it is highly likely that this dramatic reduction is due at least in part to rapid increases in the coverage of malaria interventions. Household ownership of one or more ITNs has increased from 36 percent in 2006 to 60 percent in 2008. The proportion of pregnant women who received two or more doses of IPTp increased from 12 to 52 percent between 2005 and 2008. At the end of 2007, Senegal introduced rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria in all of its health facilities, and in 2008, 73 percent of all suspected malaria cases were tested. Although no national-level baseline data are available to compare malaria prevalence, fewer than 6 percent of children under five had malaria parasites in the 2008 nationwide survey, a level much lower than would be expected in most West African countries. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported malaria control efforts in Senegal since 1999. In fiscal year (FY) 2006, $2.2 million in PMI funding was provided, followed by $16.7 million in FY 2007, $15.9 million in FY 2008, and $15.7 million in FY 2009.

  • In Zambia, the proportion of households with at least one ITN has increased from 38 percent in 2006 to 62 percent in 2008. More importantly, the use of ITNs by children under five almost doubled from 24 percent in 2006 to 41 percent in 2008. The National Malaria Control Program of Zambia estimates that, since 2003, more than 7 million ITNs have been distributed throughout the country. During the same time period, the prevalence of anemia among children six months to five years of age declined by 71 percent, from 14 to just 4 percent, and malaria parasite prevalence dropped from 22 to 10 percent. It is highly likely that these results contributed significantly to the drop in all-cause under-five mortality from 168 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002 to 119 per 1,000 in 2007. USAID has supported malaria control efforts in Zambia since 2002, including $7.6 million in FY 2006. PMI provided $9.5 million in FY 2007, followed by $14.9 million in FY 2008, and $14.7 million in FY 2009.

  • Analysis of household survey data from Rwanda showed that between 2005 and 2008, ITN use in children under five increased from 13 to 58 percent. Over approximately the same time period, the proportion of hospital deaths attributed to malaria fell from 41 to 16 percent. All-cause mortality in children under five also declined by 32 percent between 2005 and 2008. USAID has supported malaria control efforts in Rwanda since 2002. In FY 2006, PMI provided $1.5 million in funding, followed by $20 million in FY 2007, $16.9 million in FY 2008, and $16.3 million in FY 2009.

  • In Tanzania, all-cause under-five mortality fell from 112 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 91 per 1,000 in 2007. At about the same time, household ownership of ITNs increased from 23 percent in 2005 to 38 percent in 2007. A recent survey showed that children who slept under an ITN in Tanzania were 40 percent less likely to have malaria parasites in their blood than children who did not sleep under an ITN. In the capital, Dar es Salaam, malaria prevalence fell from 24 percent in 2004 to just 4 percent in 2008, and the prevalence of severe anemia in children six months to five years of age fell by 30 percent between 2004 and 2007. USAID supported malaria control efforts in Tanzania between 1999 and 2005, including $2 million in FY 2005. Beginning in FY 2006, PMI provided $11.5 million in funding, $31 million in FY 2007, $33.7 million in FY 2008, and $35 million in FY 2009.

Results presented on this page are up-to-date as of January 1, 2010.

[Return to top]