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Testimony by Mark Green, Senior Director, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Payne, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee: Thank you for this opportunity to talk with you about an under-publicized success story--a success in American development policy, but more importantly, a success for poverty relief and the human condition in Sub-Saharan Africa. Let me respectfully commend you for holding this hearing at this moment in time because the final chapters in this story have yet to be written and lawmakers such as yourselves, who obviously care deeply about Africa, will be among those with "pen in hand."
In terms of my own background on the subject, I myself suffered from malaria when I served as a teacher in Kenya in the mid-1980s. From those days to the days when I served on this Subcommittee; from the days when I oversaw the President's Malaria Initiative in Tanzania as Ambassador to my work with Malaria No More and now with the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC), I have come to believe that remarkable progress has been made in battling malaria, and that America's leadership in the cause serves our national interests on the world stage.
As you know, Malaria has been with us for centuries, and it has claimed millions of lives. There have been times when the world has scored important victories - eliminating the killer disease from places like the U.S. and Europe. There have been times when it seemed that victory was in sight in some of the hardest-hit regions of the world only to fall short.
But, members of the Subcommittee, the good news is that this time the fight is different. Armed with strong leadership in the United States and nations equipped with exciting new technologies, unprecedented faith partnerships, and historic pledges of financial resources, the world is making real and sustainable progress. We have saved millions of lives and helped provide new hope to generations of children and families who might otherwise have fallen victim to this scourge as generations past have done.
Most importantly, a new generation of strong African leaders is rising to take on the malaria challenge. While it's true that Africa can't conquer malaria alone, it's just as...