Laura Bush Targets Africa’s Biggest Child Killer
First Lady Laura Bush announced Wednesday a $507 million grant to Mozambique to build roads and wells that will be used in the battle against the country’s biggest killer and the continent’s biggest child killer.
By JENNIFER RILEY
Christian Post
June 28, 2007 - TheScroogeReport.com Post
“The compact will help eliminate mosquito breeding grounds and by providing safe water for nearly 2 million people, the devastating toll of the water-borne disease including malaria would be reduced,” Bush told a gathering of religious groups, according to Reuters.
During the meeting, the U.S. first lady also awarded a $2 million grant to the first inter-religious campaign against malaria in Mozambique, which will provide health education and training to an estimated 1.5 million Mozambicans, according to Agence France-Presse.
Malaria, the preventable mosquito-borne disease, is Mozambique’s leading cause of death, affecting some 4 million Mozambicans each year. While it doesn’t grab the same headlines as AIDS, Malaria far outstrips the latter as the continent’s biggest child killer. Worldwide, Malaria kills 1 million people each year, mostly Africans.
Mozambique is one of four beneficiaries of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) initiated by President Bush in 2005. The 1.2 billion dollar plan supports non-governmental organizations by funding prevention strategies such as pesticide spraying, mosquito bed net distribution and helps purchase anti-malarial drugs. The five-year program aims to reduce malaria in the recipient African countries by 50 percent.
