Since the national launch of Malaria Safe on November 29, 2012, in Tanzania, Prime Minister Hon. Mizengo Pinda has championed the role of the private sector in the country's malaria control strategy, working with Voices to engage stakeholders at the highest levels.

The Prime Minister, who presided at the launch, has since appointed a Malaria Safe contact person within his office, written letters to 32 Tanzanian companies to encourage them to participate in the Malaria Safe program, and requested additional public funding for malaria control from various government entities. One of these is the Minister of Regional and Local Government Authority (RALG), whom the Prime Minister directed to allocate funds for malaria. Another is Tanzania Parliamentarians Against Malaria (TAPAMA), a parliamentary group that will meet with Voices next month to address district-level malaria funding gaps under the direction of the Prime Minister, in collaboration with four committees--Social Welfare, Community Development, HIV/AIDS and Local Government. A third is the Association of Local Authorities of Tanzania (ALAT). The Prime Minister has also written a letter to the Minister of Health and Social Welfare and to the Minister of Tourism and Natural Resources to promote Malaria Safe companies and to procure malaria resources. Finally, the Prime Minister has sent letters of directives to all Regional and District Commissioners to make sure that local governments increases malaria funding before district budgets are set up early this year.

For his strong support, Hon. Mizengo Pinda (pictured above, at right) was invited as the guest of honor at last month’s United Against Malaria gala dinner in Johannesburg, an official event of the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations. He was joined by South African Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi (pictured above, at left) and other dignitaries, business leaders and celebrities who are working diligently to create a malaria-free future in Africa. "I'm personally very excited because the Malaria Safe initiative that we launched last year in Tanzania is already bringing about some very good results," he told audience members. "Malaria can't be fought alone with the budget of the government. We've got to get everybody to contribute a little bit. Through the private sector, it's working very well, because most of them have taken up the program of providing mosquito nets, etc. It can be done."