United States President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush will be hosting The White House Summit on Malaria tomorrow in Washington, D.C.

The summit is being held to discuss and highlight measures for combating the disease.

President Bush announced The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) in June 2005. The PMI is a five-year, US$1.2 billion programme that challenges the private sector to join the U.S. government in combating malaria in 15 of the hardest-hit countries. The initiative aims to cut malaria-related deaths by 50 per cent in these 15 focus countries in Africa.

Through partnerships working in the first three focus countries - Tanzania, Angola and Uganda - aid from the American people has already reached about six million Africans.