[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6862]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WORLD MALARIA DAY

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, April 25 is World Malaria Day. That is the 
day that the world pauses to acknowledge that over a million people a 
year die of a disease borne by mosquitoes, a disease that we know how 
to prevent, a disease that we know how to treat. The most vulnerable 
are children under the age of 5; every 30 seconds a child dies of 
malaria. Pregnant women are also at high risk; 10,000 expectant mothers 
perish each year from the disease. Malaria exacts an enormous economic 
and social toll as well, costing the poorest countries in the world 
billions of dollars each year in lost productivity, working days, 
revenue, and investment. With global weather patterns changing, malaria 
is spreading further, reaching areas that were previously unaffected.
  Last month, the Foreign Relations Committee approved a bipartisan 
bill that could, over the course of time, help to save millions of 
lives by providing people with the means to prevent and treat malaria. 
I am proud to have sponsored this bill, along with Senator Lugar and 
our other colleagues. This legislation, S. 2731, the Tom Lantos and 
Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, 
Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008, authorizes up to 
$5 billion over the next 5 years to combat malaria, a dramatic increase 
in resources. It also formally establishes the position of a global 
malaria coordinator to oversee U.S. programs and strengthens U.S. 
participation in the multilateral global fund to fight AIDS, 
tuberculosis, and malaria. These efforts will build on the dramatic 
early success of the President's malaria initiative, which was launched 
3 years ago by President Bush. Already, under this initiative, the 
island of Zanzibar has witnessed a 95 percent reduction in infection 
rates among children. Through bednets, spraying of homes, and providing 
drugs, we can replicate that success on a much broader scale.
  Similar legislation has passed the House of Representatives, and our 
bill received a strong vote of support in committee here. It is my hope 
that the Senate will soon take up S. 2731, that we will debate whatever 
differences we may have and vote on it, and that the President will be 
able to sign it into law well in advance of the G-8 meeting in July. If 
so, he will be in an excellent position to help convince other 
countries to undertake similar commitments. Even more important, we 
will let the people of Africa and other hard-hit areas of the globe 
know that the United States is sustaining the commitments that it first 
made in 2003 when Congress passed the original United States Leadership 
Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act.

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