HHS Expert Dr. Bernard Nahlen Selected as Deputy Coordinator of the President’s Malaria Initiative

January 30, 2007 – Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer (U.S. Navy, retired), the President's Malaria Coordinator, announced his intent to name Dr. Bernard Nahlen to serve as Deputy Coordinator of the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI). Dr. Nahlen, a malaria expert attached to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a Commissioned Officer in the HHS U.S. Public Heath Service. On loan from HHS/CDC, he served most recently as an advisor on monitoring and evaluation at the Secretariat of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

When President George Bush announced the creation of the PMI on June 30, 2005, he pledged the U.S. Government to commit $1.2 billion over five years to prevent new malaria infections in sub-Saharan Africa, where at least one million infants and children under five die each year from malaria.

The PMI, housed at the U.S. Agency for International Development, is an historic initiative in which the U.S. Government will work with the national Governments of 15 key, sub-Saharan countries, as well as bilateral and international partners, to reduce the burden of malaria in these countries by 50 percent.

The initiative launched its first programs in Angola and Tanzania in December, 2005, and in Uganda a month later. First Lady Laura Bush announced four more countries to receive PMI funding in June, 2006, and President Bush named the remaining eight countries at the White House Summit on Malaria on December 14, 2006.

As Deputy Coordinator, Dr. Nahlen will assist RADM Ziemer in directing the PMI, and will serve as the Senior Technical Advisor to the Coordinator, to provide guidance on malaria technical issues and program interventions; assist in country programs; and ensure policy coordination, coherence and implementation among all U.S. government agencies and other recipients of U.S. government funds for malaria prevention and treatment.

For more information:

• President’s Malaria Initiative

Last revised: October 11, 2007