world malaria day
tomorrow, april 25, is world malaria day and the good news is that you can make a difference. compassion international has teamed up with youth specialties on a malaria net campaign. a one time, $10 donation from you will provide a mosquito net for a child. this net provides them with much needed protection that they are unable to afford. as i was writing this post this came into my reader. boomama (i’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be all one word like that) is challenging her readers to donate 50 nets in 50 hours. so why don’t you head over there and join the fun!
“if you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito.” every african knows this is true because mosquitoes carry malaria—a tropical disease that kills over 750,000 children each year. that’s one child every 30 seconds. in africa, mosquitoes make a huge difference in the lives of poor families and children. and it all starts with a tiny bite.
There is also the organization Nothing but nets that you can drop a donation with too! same $10 for a net!
play a game to send a net for free to struggle malaria:
http://www.nothingbutnets.net/its-easy-to-help/wmd
P.S: Note that Funds will be released for nets through April 25th while funds last, up to $200,000
Great strides have been made in many places in the fight against malaria, a disease that kills a million people, most of them children, every year. That’s what World Malaria Day is all about. It draws attention to the many successful ways the war against malaria is being waged, mainly through the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets and other relatively low-tech preventive measures. Unfortunately, children in the Democratic Republic of Congo remain highly vulnerable.
According to the World Health Organization, less than 1% of DRC children under five years of age sleep under protective nets. This results in most of them suffering six to ten malaria-related fever incidents per year. The disease also accounts for 45% of childhood mortality, which overall runs to 20%. In short, malaria kills nearly one in ten children in the Congo every year.
In Heart of Diamonds, my novel of the Congo, I explore how continuous armed conflict in the country is responsible for many of these deaths. Medical supplies can’t be distributed when roads, railroads, and airstrips have been destroyed. Treatment can’t be delivered by medical personnel who have been chased from their clinics and hospitals. People driven from their homes, plagued by malnutrition, inadequate shelter, and lack of sanitary facilities are weak and less capable of warding off disease. War creates a breeding ground for death by malaria just as surely as swamps full of stagnant water breed anopheles mosquitoes.
Although the intensity of conflict has decreased since the truce of 2003 and democratic elections of 2006, millions of displaced persons still struggle to survive and hot spots remain in the eastern and western provinces. Collapsed infrastructure has severely weakened the health system in the DRC, and the strengthening process is a slow one.
The DRC, unfortunately, has little to celebrate this World Malaria Day
dave, thanks for stopping by and for shedding light on the armed conflict in the drc.
We donated ours thanks for the reminder
graham, thanks!!
Do you have to take malaria pills since you are living in thailand? If we move to India we’ll have to take them.
no malaria pills for us. chiang mai is considered malaria free. but much of thailand is not safe so if we venture out we do have to take them.