Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation visits malaria project in Zambia
A high-ranking delegation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including William H. Gates, Sr., Mimi Gates, David Brandling-Bennett, Andy Voytko, Heather Flodstrom, Gabrielle Fitzgerald, and Todd Dennett, visited Zambia on February 26 through 28, 2007, to learn firsthand about malaria and tuberculosis in Africa. PATH’s Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa (MACEPA) team hosted the visit. The delegation had the opportunity to meet with government officials to learn how the country is addressing the diseases; they also met with a range of malaria control partners. The delegation visited the Chipapa Community Clinic in Kafue District to observe how health centers are providing malaria prevention and treatment methods to rural populations, a group with historically high rates of malaria. The group also visited people in their homes and chatted with people in the community to hear directly how valuable insecticide-treated mosquito nets, indoor residual house spraying, and prevention and treatment medicines (particularly to pregnant women and children under age five) have been to saving lives, helping families, and improving livelihoods in Chipapa.
Dr. Mwila Lembalemba, Kafue District Health Management Team Director; Abdirahman Mohamed, MACEPA Country Director; and Mr. Edwin Chelo, Neighborhood Health Committee volunteer; with Mimi Gates and William H. Gates, Sr, in Milindimani Village in Kafue District, Zambia.
Posted March 5, 2007.