Today is World Malaria Day. And this year's theme, Achieving Progress and Impact, feels especially appropriate in Yirimadjo at this moment. Malaria is a major cause of unnecessary suffering and death throughout the world, and accounts for 63% of healthcare demand in Yirimadjo.  Yet progress is in the air.  Over the past two years, since Project Muso launched the Community Based Malaria Program, rates of early malaria treatment for children in Yirimadjo have tripled. Childhood fever has decreased 43%. We are observing a decrease in child mortality. You can hear this impact throughout Yirimadjo's communities in the cries of children who are alive today because, for the first time, they have access to healthcare.
 
Throughout Mali and Sub-Saharan Africa, malaria, a preventable and curable disease, persists as one of the leading causes of child death. Most children who die from malaria loose their life within the first two days of their very first symptom.  Although we have effective and inexpensive medicine to treat malaria, and we know how to prevent the disease with bednets and prevention medicines, many people in Mali and throughout the world are not able to access these lifesaving tools. Why? Reasons include direct and indirect cost barriers, geographic distance, lack of information or social support, and inadequate infrastructure. But the biggest reason of all? People are poor. And in most places, when you are poor in Mali, you don't get healthcare.
 
In order to effectively combat malaria, new approaches to delivery of malaria prevention and treatment tools are needed. In September 2008, Project Muso’s Community Based Malaria Program embarked on a journey to do just this. With Community Health Workers, free care for the poor, and improvements in infrastructure and clinical care, Project Muso aimed to achieve, and sustain, a reduction in malaria rates and child mortality in Yirimadjo.
 
Since the launch of the program, curative health care visits have increased by 136%. Our Community Health Workers have assessed 8,515 children younger than five years for malaria symptoms, and performed 200,000 home visits to assess, diagnose, treat, and prevent malaria.  Our Solidarity Fund has provided free health care at 27,703 patient visits at the Yirimadjo Health Center. We meet quarterly with local, district, and national Ministry of Health partners to review our results and discuss policy implications thereof.
 
Today, communities around the world are renewing their commitment to eliminate malaria deaths by 2015. We need your help to make Yirimadjo a malaria free zone, and to scale up this model to other communities in the region. Join our community to ensure we continue the progress we have made to transform the fight against malaria.