In Madagascar, as part of the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), we will launch an indoor residual spraying campaign (IRS). The campaign will cover 16 districts in Madagascar, including 6 in the central highlands, and 10 in the northwest and southwest. IRS involves the coordinated, timely spraying of the inside walls of houses with insecticides. Mosquitoes are killed when they land on these sprayed walls, reducing malaria transmission.
In Senegal, a report of a study on the Feminization of HIV/AIDS in Senegal will be released. According to the 2008 United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) report, approximately two women are HIV positive for every HIV-positive man. This feminization of the epidemic is a sharp shift from the beginning of the epidemic, when the numbers of HIV-positive men were higher. Women 25 to 29 years of age now have the highest prevalence of any age group at 1.5 percent, according to the 2005 Senegal Demographic and Health Survey (SDHS), with the next highest group, men 35 to 39 years of age, at 0.7 percent.
In Zimbabwe, we will launch the Promoting Recovery in Zimbabwe (PRIZE) Consortium. The PRIZE consortium is an initiative funded through the Food for Peace program to address the acute relief and recovery needs of Zimbabweans arising from economic, political and environmental shocks that have plagued Zimbabwe. It provides emergency food aid and seeks to improve long term food security through agricultural program and development of community skills.
