U.S. Malaria Donations Saved Almost 2 Million African Children
They found that countries helped by the malaria initiative had 16 percent fewer deaths in
that age group, which amounts to about 1.7 million lives of babies and toddlers saved since the program began, said Harsha Thirumurthy, a health economist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the lead author.
Global Health By
DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
JUNE 26, 2017
Over the last decade, American donations to fight malaria in Africa have saved the lives of nearly
two million children, according to a new analysis of mortality rates in 32 countries there.
The researchers — economists from the University of North Carolina and Harvard — looked at death rates for children under 5, contrasting the 19 countries
that get American malaria aid (mostly in the form of mosquito nets, house spraying and malaria pills) with 13 countries that do not.
In the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes & Trends surveys over the last 15 years, Dr. Bendavid said in an email, 75 percent or more of residents of Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast
and Senegal usually said they regard the United States favorably.
Rear said that We gave them a heads-up that we were doing the analysis, but we didn’t share the results with them till they were in print.
The study, published by PLOS Medicine this month, looked at the long-term effects of the President’s Malaria Initiative,
a program started by President George W. Bush in 2005 that has spent over $500 million a year since 2010.