President Bush embraces a patient after giving her an insecticide mosquito net as part of efforts to combat malaria during a tour of Meru District Hospital in Arusha, Tanzania, today.

ARUSHA, Tanzania — President Bush handed out hugs and bed nets in Tanzania's rural north today, saying the U.S. is part of a new international effort to provide enough mosquito netting to protect every child between one and five from contracting malaria in the east African nation.

"The disease keeps sick workers home, schoolyards quiet, communities in mourning," Bush said about the disease which kills 100,000 people a year in Tanzania alone. "The suffering caused by malaria is needless and every death caused by malaria is unacceptable. It is unacceptable to people here in Africa, who see their families devastated and economies crippled. It is unacceptable to people in the United States, who believe every human life has value."

Bush's visit to Meru District Hospital was part of his six-day trek through five African nations. The public mission of his travels is to improve health on an impoverished continent. The underlying one is to preserve his initiatives beyond his presidency and cement humanitarianism as a key part of his legacy.

The president launched a plan in 2005 to dramatically reduce malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, the worst affected region in the world. More than 80 percent of malaria cases happen here; the disease kills at least 1 million infants and children under five every year. Congress so far has put $425 million toward Bush's $1.2 billion, five-year program, which has helped more than 25 million people.

"The power to save lives comes with the moral obligation to use it," Bush said about the U.S. commitment.

In the northern highlands of Arusha, an area known as a cradle of African safari adventure, Bush announced that the U.S. and Tanzania — in partnership with the World Bank and The Global Fund — plan to distribute 5.2 million free bed nets in Tanzania in six months. That's enough, he said, to provide a net for every child between ages one and five in Tanzania. The Global Fund is a public-private partnership that has committed millions to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in 136 countries.

Bush landed near the hospital in sight of the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro and was greeted by Maasai women dancers who wore purple robes and white discs around their necks. The president joined their line and enjoyed himself, but held off on dancing.

As Bush's motorcade made the long drive from the airport to the hospital, it passed through several villages where thousands of locals lined the road. At one point, flowers had been strewn in the street before the car of the president, who is popular because of the help his administration has provided to battle disease.

In every part of the hospital he toured, women spontaneously hugged the president. He visited with pregnant women receiving vouchers for bed nets and children waiting to be diagnosed and treated for malaria.