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 use in the battle against the country's biggest killer and the continent's biggest child killer.
The southeastern African nation will use the fund to improve roads, agriculture, and install water wells to provide clean water.
"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.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
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.
The first lady, together with her daughter Jenna, is on a tour of four African countries that receive U.S. funding for HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention and treatment projects.
Mozambique was Bush's second stop on a trip that also includes Senegal, Zambia and Mali.
In Senegal, during her first stop, Bush picked vegetables and handed out mosquito nets in to emphasize the importance of tackling some of the continent's widespread afflictions – such as malnutrition and malaria – in the battle against AIDS in Africa.
"It's often overlooked that one of the essential things in the treatment of AIDS or HIV is good nutrition," she said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, after touring a garden whose produce is used to supplement the meals of AIDS patients at a Dakar hospital.
The first lady gave mosquito nets to AIDS patients as a doctor explained that insect-borne malaria — the biggest killer in Senegal — is even more dangerous for those who are HIV positive.
Bush, who was scheduled to be in Zambia on Thursday, planned to give Zambians care giver kits from World Vision that include basic necessities such as antibacterial soup, antifungal cream, latex gloves, cotton ball, Vaseline, and a flashlight – items that she said people might need but never be able to buy themselves, according to ABC news. The kits are made by Americans.
The first lady's trip will conclude in Mali on Friday.
Christian Post reporter Eric Young in Washington contributed to this report.
