Campaign

World Malaria Day: April 25th 2009

'Death by mosquito bite' – that's one name for it. Malaria's the other. And you can guess what parts of the world are most vulnerable, can't you? Doesn't it hit you as being grossly unfair when something that's just plain annoying to us in the wealthy world can be fatal to a community living in poverty?

Malaria is one of the global killers that strikes with ruthless efficiency. It claims a million lives a year and 90 per cent of those deaths are in Africa. Every 30 seconds a child dies, and those that survive may suffer brain damage and further health problems.

But Malaria is a preventable, treatable disease, and it can be eradicated from an entire continent. How do we know this? It's exactly what happened in North America 50 years ago.

So here's what we want you to do:

• visit www.malarianomore.org, read up on the disease and donate a malaria net or three
• think about ways you can get others involved. Commit to recruiting a small team of people and doing some fundraising together around the end of April
• black out your Facebook / myspace profile picture on World Malaria Day (or before, if you like) and join this group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4110666657

Thank you.