For Immediate Release
Press Release
World Malaria Day 2023: U.S. Ambassador Renews U.S. Commitment to Support the Government of Cameroon to Fight Malaria
Yaoundé, Cameroon — The U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon, Christopher J. Lamora, participated in the official World Malaria Day 2023 event organized by the Government of Cameroon at the Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé. Despite Cameroon’s continuous efforts, malaria remains an endemic disease in the country with 11,000 deaths every year. Cameroon has made the fight against malaria a priority, as reflected in the Health Sector Strategy (2016-2027) and the 2019–2023 National Malaria Strategy.
Ambassador Lamora highlighted the U.S. government’s malaria response initiatives in Cameroon, which are implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Peace Corps, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) primarily through the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). Ambassador Lamora noted that PMI has invested more than 80 billion CFA Franc in Cameroon since 2017, resulting in a more than 35 percent decrease in child death rates from malaria. Between 2017 and 2022, in collaboration with the National Malaria Control Program, the initiative has provided Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention treatment to more than 2 million children annually and supported more than 75,800 trainings for health workers on malaria-related service delivery, supply chain and surveillance. In 2022, the U.S. government delivered more than 500,000 insecticides treated mosquito nets; nine million doses of seasonal malaria chemoprevention treatment; two million doses of Artemisinin-based combination treatments; and two million rapid diagnostic tests in the North and Far North regions, including funding for entomological surveillance at 15 sites in eight regions. The PMI also supported the production of a national practical guide for health providers, which assisted routine monitoring and improved malaria case management. Finally, the Peace Corps conducts community malaria trainings in each community with a Peace Corps Health Volunteer.
Representing the Cameroonian government, Minister of Public Health Manaouda Malachie declared that it is time to deliver “Zero Malaria: Innovate, Invest, implement” and recommended enduring investments for a malaria-free Cameroon. The United States will continue to support Cameroon in the fight against malaria.
For more information on U.S. government aid assistance: https://cm.usembassy.gov/sections-offices/
###