In 2008, Liberia was selected as one of the 19 focus countries benefiting from the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which is led by USAID and implemented together with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. PMI was launched in June 2005 as a 5-year, $1.2 billion initiative to rapidly scale up malaria prevention and treatment interventions and reduce malaria-related mortality by 50 percent in high-burden countries in sub-Saharan Africa.                                                                        

PMI’s Strategy for 2015-2020 takes into account progress over the past decade and new challenges that have arisen. Malaria prevention and control remains a major U.S. foreign assistance objective and PMI's Strategy fully aligns with the U.S. Government's vision of ending preventable child and maternal deaths and ending extreme poverty

Following the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in Liberia, PMI and its implementing partners supported the Ministry of Health (MOH) to adjust programs and help maintain access to malaria prevention and treatment. As part of post-Ebola recovery, PMI is also supporting restoration of services throughout the country to increase access to adequate malaria prevention and treatment. PMI’s strategy is implemented through the following activities.

Current Activities

AIRS-Enhanced Entomology Support (EES)

• Entomology surveillance and capacity development of the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP)

VectorWorks

• Providing technical assistance to the NMCP to plan distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets (LLIN)
• Supportive supervision of routine distribution of LLIN during antenatal care and institutional delivery
• Durability monitoring study of LLIN

Promoting Quality Medicines (PQM)

• Drug quality monitoring and assurance for malaria commodities through support to the Liberia Medicines and Health Regulatory Authority

Malaria Indicator Survey

• National population-based survey

Leadership, Management, and Governance (LMG)

• Provides long term technical assistance to the NMCP to support implementation of the grant from the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria
• Capacity building of the NMCP to effectively implement national malaria strategies
• Support for health systems strengthening by addressing the gap in leadership, management and governance capacity of policy makers, health care providers, and program managers to implement quality health services at all levels of the health system

 Expanding Malaria Services

• Provides national level support  to the NMCP to improve uptake of malaria case management and malaria in pregnancy activities 
• Strengthen County Health Teams’ ability to implement and supervise malaria programs