President's Malaria Initiative (PMI)
Started in 2005, the President’s Malaria Initiative was designed to tackle one of the most invasive communicable disease in the world. Over 3 million cases of malaria are reported every year and in 2011, an estimated 700,000 people die from the disease yearly. At roughly the same time that the US Government decided to fund malaria programs in 15 countries in Africa, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided JHU-CCP with the first Voices grant. In the early days,
Voices helped PMI share its successes with Congress through the development of success stories, well documented with photos and testimonials from the field. The Voices project was designed to provide support for existing malaria program funds – helping to create an environment where the PMI funds can make more of an impact on the malaria control systems in country. Today five years later, the Voices country teams in several countries have worked very closely with PMI implementing partners. In Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, and Mali, Voices conducts advocacy to clear up bottlenecks and make malaria programs more visible.
In Mali, for example, PMI provided nets and operational costs for the Universal Coverage Campaign and Voices conducted advocacy in country and international donors to cover the net gap for the same campaign. In Ghana, Voices developed the District Malaria Advocacy Teams and PMI implementing partners carried the DMAT strategy to new districts. In Tanzania, PMI research dollars helped measure the effectiveness of the Voices United Against Malaria PSA campaign during the World Cup. In Uganda, the United Against Malaria Campaign has helped raise awareness of the need for public-private partnership, with the slogan “One Goal, One team, let’s beat malaria.” Voices district advocacy materials are being shared with Peace Corps volunteers and programs in countries all over Africa for inclusion in their programs which are often supported by PMI resources and implementing partners.
