Senate Floor: WORLD MALARIA DAY

Mr. President, April 25 is World Malaria Day. That is the day that the world pauses to acknowledge that over a million people a year die of a disease borne by mosquitoes, a disease that we know how to prevent, a disease that we know how to treat. The most vulnerable are children under the age of 5; every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria. Pregnant women are also at high risk; 10,000 expectant mothers perish each year from the disease. Malaria exacts an enormous economic and social toll as well, costing the poorest countries in the world billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, working days, revenue, and investment. With global weather patterns changing, malaria is spreading further, reaching areas that were previously unaffected.

Last month, the Foreign Relations Committee approved a bipartisan bill that could, over the course of time, help to save millions of lives by providing people with the means to prevent and treat malaria. I am proud to have sponsored this bill, along with Senator Lugar and our other colleagues. This legislation, S. 2731, the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008, authorizes up to $5 billion over the next 5 years to combat malaria, a dramatic increase in resources. It also formally establishes the position of a global malaria coordinator to oversee U.S. programs and strengthens U.S. participation in the multilateral global fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. These efforts will build on the dramatic early success of the President's malaria initiative, which was launched 3 years ago by President Bush. Already, under this initiative, the island of Zanzibar has witnessed a 95 percent reduction in infection rates among children. Through bednets, spraying of homes, and providing drugs, we can replicate that success on a much broader scale.

Similar legislation has passed the House of Representatives, and our bill received a strong vote of support in committee here. It is my hope that the Senate will soon take up S. 2731, that we will debate whatever differences we may have and vote on it, and that the President will be able to sign it into law well in advance of the G-8 meeting in July. If so, he will be in an excellent position to help convince other countries to undertake similar commitments. Even more important, we will let the people of Africa and other hard-hit areas of the globe know that the United States is sustaining the commitments that it first made in 2003 when Congress passed the original United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act.