Decision Points

for a combination of insecticide sprays,bed nets, and medicine for infected patients. The remedies were not particularly expensive. Bed nets cost $10 each, including delivery.
    In June 2005, I announced a five-year, $1.2 billion program that would fund malaria-eradication efforts in fifteen countries. Like PEPFAR, the President’s Malaria Initiative would empower Africans to design strategies to meet their needs. We would work toward a measurable goal: cutting malaria mortality rates by 50 percent over the next five years.
    I named Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer, a retired Navy pilot with experience in international relief efforts, to lead the Malaria Initiative. In its first two years, the initiative reached eleven million Africans. It also generated a passionate response from the American people. Boys and Girls Clubs, scout troops, and school classes donated money in ten-dollar increments to buy bed nets for African children. Faith-based organizations and major corporations, especially those doing business in Africa, gave generously to the cause.
    With support from the Malaria Initiative, infection rates in the targeted countries began to decline. The most dramatic turnaround was in Zanzibar . Health officials adopted an aggressive campaign of spraying, bed net distribution, and medicine for malaria victims and pregnant women. On one Zanzibar island, the number of malaria cases dropped more than 90 percent in a single year.
    On April 25, 2007, Laura and I hosted America’s first-ever Malaria Awareness Day in the Rose Garden. It was an opportunity to herald progress and show our citizens the results of their generosity.
    At the end of my remarks, the KanKouran West African Dance Company performed a lively song. Caught up in the celebratory mood, I joined the dancers onstage. My moves were replayed on the national news and became a minor sensation on YouTube. The girls took great delight in teasing me: “I don’t think you should audition for
Dancing with the Stars
, Dad.”
    “I told you my goal was to raise awareness,” I replied.

    In 2006, Mark Dybul succeeded Randy Tobias as the coordinator of PEPFAR. As a medical doctor and respected figure in the AIDS community, Mark brought great credibility to PEPFAR. After one of his trips to Africa, he told me many on the continent were anxious about what would happen after PEPFAR’s five-year authorization expired in 2008. Governments were counting on our continued support, and so were the people. Mark told me he had asked a health clinic official in Ethiopia if anyone knew what the acronym PEPFAR stood for. “Yes,” the man said. “PEPFAR means the American people care about us.”
    Mark believed we had a responsibility to continue the program—and an opportunity to build on our progress. By doubling PEPFAR’s initial funding level, we could treat 2.5 million people, prevent 12 million infections, and support care for 12 million people over the next five years.
    Doubling funding would be a big commitment. But the AIDS initiative was working, and I decided to keep the momentum going. On May 30, 2007, I stepped into the Rose Garden and called for Congress to reauthorize the initiative with a new commitment of $30 billion over the next five years.
    To highlight the progress, I invited a South African woman named Kunene Tantoh . Laura had met her two years earlier and shared herinspiring story with me. Kunene was HIV-positive, but thanks to medicine she received through the mother and child initiative, she had given birth to an HIV-free boy. After the speech I held four-year-old Baron in my arms and smiled at the thought that his precious life had been saved by the American taxpayers. He demonstrated his energy and good health by wiggling around and waving to the cameras. Then he gave me the international look for “Enough is enough. Put me down.”

    Holding Baron Tantoh.
White House/Eric Draper
    The next step was to get other nations to join us. In the summer of 2007, Laura and I flew to Germany for the G-8 summit, hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel . One key mission was to persuade my fellow G-8 leaders to match America’s pledges on HIV/AIDS and malaria.
    Angela told me the summit’s primary topic would be global warming. I was willing to be constructive on the issue. In my 2006 State of the Union address, I had said that America was “addicted to oil”—a line that didn’t go over so well with some friends back in Texas. I had worked with Congress to promote