Oct. 19, 2007, Grand Rapids, Mich. - The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (www.crwrc.org <http://www.crwrc.org/> ) is among the first five relief and development agencies to receive a $1.5 million Malaria Communities Program grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
CRWRC will focus this work in Central Malawi over a five-year period, working in partnership with the Nkhoma Relief and Development organization to reach more than 50,400 households. The program will promote healthy behaviors such as insecticide-treated bed nets, pre-natal clinic visits for pregnant women to receive preventive treatment for malaria and immediate treatment for suspected malaria in children under age five.
In announcing the awards, USAID quoted Rear Adm. R. Tim Ziemer, U.S. Malaria Coordinator, saying, "We want to strengthen the ability of faith-based and community organizations to fight malaria while also building local ownership. Groups with local connections that have worked to build trust and provide hope are key partners in the effort to combat malaria at the local level."
CRWRC has worked alongside national partners in Malawi for nearly 20 years, building strong, healthy relationships with local organizations doing sectoral development, emergency relief, and organizational capacity-building.
In a separate award focusing on child and maternal health, USAID announced a $1.1 million, five-year grant to CRWRC in India. Working with long-time partner, the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR), CRWRC will reach nearly 162,000 children under age five and 188,500 women of reproductive age.
"Nearly 27,000 children die each day from preventable and treatable causes such as neonatal complications, diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria," Will Story, CRWRC's technical adviser for child survival and health, explained. "CRWRC and its partners have the tools and the knowledge to prevent many of these deaths in some of the poorest regions of the world."
The child survival grant in India will expand maternal and newborn care, nutrition, childhood immunization, and malaria treatment and prevention. Leading causes of child mortality include malnutrition, lack of proper post-natal care, and infectious diseases such as malaria.
For more information about CRWRC's child survival and health programs, contact Will Story at 616-241-1691, ext. 4148.
CRWRC is an agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (www.crcna.org <http://www.crcna.org/> ) providing a ministry of development, relief, and justice education to people in need around the world. It is currently active in 30 countries and has an international reputation for "helping people help themselves."
...................
Henry Hess
Director of Communication
Christian Reformed Church