[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E191-E192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE FIGHT TO DEFEAT MALARIA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JAMIE RASKIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 15, 2018

  Mr. RASKIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of U.S. 
leadership to end malaria globally, a movement driven by the 
President's Malaria Initiative and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
Tuberculosis, and Malaria. These benchmark programs have helped save 
the lives of seven million people from this devastating disease for 
nearly two decades. I am proud to represent the 8th District of 
Maryland, where many of the major life-saving scientific discoveries 
have occurred, notably at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research 
and the National Institutes of Health.
   As a leader in the fight to eliminate malaria, the U.S. has helped 
create and advance life-saving interventions like insecticide-treated 
bed nets, indoor residual spray, and rapid diagnostic tests throughout 
endemic regions including Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and 
Southeast Asia. Between 2000 and 2015, the U.S. and our global partners 
have driven down malaria death rates by 62 percent overall, and by 69 
percent for children under five. Yet, despite this progress, more work 
remains: the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 445,000 deaths in 
2016 caused by this preventable and treatable disease.
   In its World Malaria Report of 2017, the WHO highlighted the 
successes and shortcomings of the global community's efforts to combat 
this disease, which is still killing hundreds of thousands of people 
every year. While annual reports have noted steady declines in deaths 
and infections caused by malaria, progress has stalled due to 
insecticide and drug resistance, stagnant funding from global and 
domestic partners, and political instability. For the first time since 
2000, when the global community first came together to end malaria, 
infection rates increased and death rates did not decline. This is the 
stark reality of the fight against malaria: when attention and funding 
shrink, the disease thrives and spreads.
   I urge my colleagues to join me in continuing our bipartisan 
commitment to defeating malaria, including full funding of the 
President's Malaria Initiative and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Together, we can ensure that a day will 
arrive when no child will ever again die from a mosquito bite.

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