Published: April 5, 2011, 12:00 am
Amie Batson, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health, wore the 485 malaria champion pin at the hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations chaired by Kay Granger and Ranking Member Nita Lowey on March 31st, 2011.
Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator
Testifying on the FY 2012 Global Health and Child Survival Budget request, Ms. Batson called progress against malaria one of “development’s most impressive stories”. She cited how collaborative efforts with national governments, donors and multiple partners have enabled USAID/PMI to reach millions in Sub-Saharan Africa with life-saving interventions.
Ms. Batson quantified the results in burden reductions, saying “In less than five years, malaria cases have been halved in over 40 countries, and childhood malaria deaths have dropped by 200,000.” Batson also emphasized the “cascade of public-health benefits” resulting from malaria control efforts, such as reducing co-morbidity from other illnesses, like pneumonia and malnutrition, freeing-up health system resources and contributing to local country ownership and sustainability, by building capacity and mobilizing state, private sector and civic actions to assume health service provision responsibility.
The previous day, Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator also testified before the same committee to defend President Obama’s FY 2012 budget request. Dr. Shah also mentioned upon malaria control successes in his testimony.
“Representing the largest portion of the President’s budget request for foreign operations, the $8.7 billion USAID and State are requesting for the Global Health and Children Survival account, will allow us to transform HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable disease for more than 4 million HIV-positive patients, reduce the burden of malaria by half for 450 million people and prevent hundreds of millions of child deaths from preventable diseases by providing them vaccines and bed nets, ” Shah said.
Shah highlighted how investment in development saves lives, strengthens democracies and expands opportunity around the world while keeping the US safe and growing its economy. He also spoke about how USAID puts US values and generosity into action by, for example, “distributing anti-malarial bed nets donated by school children.”
In conclusion, Dr. Shah asserted that “budgets are an expression of policy; they are an expression of priorities. But, fundamentally, they are an expression of values.”
Learn more about the Voices for a Malaria-Free Future project [1].
Learn more about the 485 campaign [1].
