wfn.org | LWR awarded $1.49 million from USAID for malaria work in Mali

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

>ELCA News Blog

>October 8, 2009  

LWR awarded $1.49 million from USAID for malaria work in Mali

>by Melissa Ramirez Cooper, ELCA News Service

Lutheran World Relief (LWR), a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS),
received a $1.49 million grant from the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) to extend the reach of malaria control
in Mali, according to an Oct. 7 LWR news release.  "Lutheran World Relief
is pleased to partner with USAID in the fight against malaria in Mali,
the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the country.  With this
grant, we can broaden our malaria control efforts in Mali, reaching even
more people at risk," said Alissa Karg, LWR's deputy regional director
for Africa.

With the grant, LWR will work to build awareness about malaria and
improve agricultural incomes in Mali.  "Integrating malaria and
agricultural work will help address the economic and information barriers
that prevent rural communities from seeking timely malaria care,"
according to the release.  LWR aspires to reach 480,000 people in more
than 400 communities in Mali, including more than 70,000 pregnant women
and 90,000 children under the age of 5.  These are two groups of people
vulnerable to malaria infection.

At the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly this past summer, the ELCA agreed to
partner with the LCMS, LWR and the United Nations Foundation to raise
awareness about malaria and funds through the Lutheran Malaria
Initiative.  The initiative is designed to mobilize nearly 8 million
Lutherans in the United States to join the battle against malaria, a
preventable and treatable disease that kills more than one million people
a year.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog