Mr. Speaker, today is World Malaria Day. According to the most recent statistics in the World Health Organization's World Malaria Report 2011, an estimated 655,000 victims died from malaria in 2010. That means 75 people an hour die, and even more tragic is that 64 of them are children under the age of five.
I have been honoured to co-chair the All-Party Parliamentary Caucus on Ending Malaria. I encourage all members to spread the word in their communities about raising malaria awareness.
Our government is focusing efforts internationally to ensure that treatment is available to the most vulnerable. CIDA has invested $105 million since 2007 to the Catalytic Initiative to Save a Million Lives. There were 48,000 Canadian-trained health workers who distributed more than 4.6 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets and administered anti-malarial treatments to more than 600,000 children.
On World Malaria Day, I am proud of the actions Canada has taken around the world.