This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English DevelopmentReport.

Today we report on some national programs against malaria.

In Zambia, the disease killed at least twenty thousand childrenin the year two-thousand-one. Now Zambia has money from the Global Fund toFight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This money is to buy new andmore costly medicines that treat malaria.

Government and private groups areboth involved in this effort. Religious groups that provide healthcare are also giving people bed nets treated with chemicals. Thesekill the mosquitoes that spread malaria.

Tanzania became the first government in Africa to end all taxeson treated bed nets. Pregnant women will receive one free of charge.Local stores will get money for the nets from an organizationfinanced by the Global Fund.

Nearly all the nets used are made in Tanzania. Officials sayseventy percent of homes in Tanzania should have at least onechemically treated bed net by two-thousand-six.

The United States Agency forInternational Development has a program called NetMark. The purposeis to make treated nets easier to get in several African countries.These include Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal.

More than six hundred thousand bed nets were purchased in thesecountries through NetMark in two-thousand-two. It is important totreat the nets with chemicals again after six months. So NetMarkalso makes that possible. In addition, a mining company in Zambiadeveloped a chemical to be sprayed in five cities to killmosquitoes.

Experts say these ways to fight malaria are already working inVietnam. Local health care workers are trained to recognize andtreat the infection quickly. Pregnant women get medicine to preventmalaria, and families receive free bed nets. Health workers inVietnam hope to reduce deaths from malaria by fifty percent over thenext five years.

In Sri Lanka, a local group called the Sarvodaya Malaria Projectprints materials about the disease. Children receive the informationin school.

Also, workers spray houses and plants to kill mosquitoes. Workersclose unused wells and waterways where the insects can lay eggs.Health workers in Sri Lanka visit houses in villages. They make surefamilies all know how to use nets on their beds, and how to re-treatthem.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by KarenLeggett. This is Robert Cohen.