By JENNIFER LOVEN
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 25, 2007; 4:47 PM

WASHINGTON -- The White House turned its attention Wednesday to preventing and eradicating malaria, a big killer of African children.

But it wasn't all serious business: President Bush pounded on the drums for a West African dance troupe and had some fun at Congress' expense.

The Rose Garden event with Bush and his wife, Laura, was the first time the White House has marked Malaria Awareness Day alongside observances elsewhere in the world.

"On this special day, we renew our commitment to lead the world toward an urgent goal, and that is to turn the tide against malaria in Africa, and around the globe," the president said.

More than 1 million people die each year from malaria. The mosquito-borne disease is the leading cause of death of African children under age 5. Tens of millions of people suffer chronically.

Yet, Bush said, the debilitating, deadly disease is both preventable and curable. That requires distributing insecticide-treated bed nets, expanding insecticide spraying, providing anti-malaria medicine to pregnant women and delivering cutting-edge drugs to people with the disease.

"Defeating malaria is going to be a challenge, but it's not going to require a miracle," he said.

He pointed to Washington's experience prevailing over malaria a century ago. It had been such a problem that many diplomats received extra hardship pay for assignments to the hot, swampy U.S. capital and, Bush said, "Congress would often flee the capital for months at a time."

"Other than that," he said, "the consequences were all negative."

In 2005, Bush undertook a five-year, $1.2 billion effort that challenges the private sector to join the U.S. government in combatting malaria in the hardest-hit African nations. Its aim is to slash the disease's mortality rate by half in targeted nations.

Angola, Tanzania and Uganda were the first three countries in the program, followed by Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal. In December, eight countries were added: Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali and Zambia.

Laura Bush said the initiative is going to provide 500,000 bed nets to the most vulnerable households in Zambia _ about 10 percent of the country's population. She said she would visit Zambia this summer to see the nets being distributed.

The president said the cooperation with Uganda is being expanded to hand out 500,000 nets there as well, an effort he said will mean that eventually half of all Ugandan households will have a net.

Also through the U.S. initiative, bed nets will be distributed to nearly 1.4 million children under 5, a campaign that will also include polio vaccines, Bush said.

The president said more than 11 million people in Africa have benefited so far after two years of the anti-malaria initiative, and that number should reach 30 million by the end of 2007 budget year, this September.

He said that during the Group of Eight summit of industrialized nations in Germany in June, he planned to push other countries to commit significant resources to fighting malaria.

"The United States will lead, and we expect others to follow side-by-side," Bush said.

He ended the event on a much less-severe note.

After a few songs from the colorfully and traditionally dressed KanKouran West African Dance Company, the president and first lady joined the dancers and drummers on stage for a picture.

In no time, it was Bush who was enthusiastically choreographing the moves. Flashing a big grin, Bush pounded on the drums to set the rhythm and led the women and men of the group in a little dance.