Ghana

Malaria prevention and control is a major foreign assistance objective of the U.S. Government. In May 2009, President Barack Obama announced the Global Health Initiative (GHI), a comprehensive effort to reduce the burden of disease and promote healthy communities and families around the world. Through the GHI, the United States will help partner countries improve health outcomes, with a particular focus on improving the health of women, newborns, and children. The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) is a core component of the GHI. PMI was launched in June 2005 as a 5-year, $1.2 billion initiative to rapidly scale up malaria prevention and treatment interventions and reduce malaria-related mortality by 50% in 15 high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa. With the passage of the 2008 Lantos-Hyde Act, funding for PMI was extended and, as part of the GHI, the goal of PMI was adjusted to reduce malaria-related mortality by 70% in the original 15 countries by the end of 2015. This will be achieved by continuing to scale up coverage of the most vulnerable groups -children under five years of age and pregnant women -with proven preventive and therapeutic interventions, including artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), intermittent preventive treatment of pregnant women (IPTp), and indoor residual spraying (IRS). Ghana became a PMI country in December 2007. Other donor partners include the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), which has provided an estimated $145 million towards malaria control since 2003 and the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) whose 5-year, $16 million grant began in 2013. Malaria is endemic in all parts of the country, with seasonal variations that are more pronounced in the north. Ghana's entire population of 24.2 million (2010 Census) is at risk of malaria infection, but children under five years of age and pregnant women are at higher risk of severe illness due to lowered immunity. Transmission is markedly less intense in large urban centers compared to rural areas. This FY 2015 Malaria Operational Plan was developed in collaboration with the Government of Ghana (GOG), National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), and other development partners and based upon analyzing malaria control data and trends and reviewing lessons learned over seven years of PMI implementation. The 2011 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey provided data on point prevalence of parasitemia as well as information on trends in malaria control interventions. The FY 2015 planned budget is $28 million.