Episcopal Relief and Development commemorates World Malaria Day. This year’s theme, “a disease without borders” highlights the need for cross-border action and cooperation in malaria prevention efforts.
Malaria, a parasitic disease carried by the anopheles mosquito, takes the largest toll on vulnerable populations in sub-Saharan Africa, though it is also present in Asia, Latin America/the Caribbean, the Middle East and parts of Europe. Despite international efforts to control it, a child dies from malaria every 30 seconds.
Episcopal Relief and Development is actively fighting the spread of malaria, which infects 500 million people a year and kills over 1 million, mostly children and pregnant women living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Inspiration Fund is dedicated to achieving MDG 6-Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases- and is in the process of raising $3 million dollars towards this effort.
Episcopal Relief and Development’s NetsforLife® program is a partnership to prevent malaria in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The partnership is comprised of individual, foundation and corporate sponsors including Standard Chartered Bank, ExxonMobil Foundation, The Starr International Foundation, The White Flowers Foundation and The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation. NetsforLife® works in partnership with the Anglican Church and other ecumenical partners in affected communities to distribute long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to the most vulnerable, build awareness about malaria, and train community leaders to teach prevention and treatment methods.
“We know what we have to do,” says StephenDzisi, Technical Director of NetsforLife® .“Our ability to reach vulnerable families living ‘at the end of the road’ is the work of our Church and enables us to contribute to the global effort to eliminate malaria.”
Robert W. Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief and Development and Laura Ellen Muglia, Chair of Episcopal Relief and Development’s Seattle Women’s Development Council, will be traveling in Zambia, a country ravaged by malaria, on World Malaria Day. They will be spending two days with the Zambezi Expedition to highlight the importance of access to insecticide-treated nets and malaria prevention information for communities living on the riverbanks in extremely remote regions of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Zambezi Expedition, sponsored by NetsforLife® and the Rollback Malaria Partnership, is a two-month voyage on the Zambezi River to showcase successes and underscore the challenges involved in the fight against malaria across the six countries of the Trans-Zambezi region. It aims to generate government and public support for a Zambezi-wide malaria control strategy that is currently in the making in Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
“I have seen firsthand how these long-lasting mosquito nets can make a difference between life and death from malaria for the poorest of the poor,” says Muglia. “Episcopal Relief and Development’s NetsforLife® program partnership is successful and effective in reaching those who live where others do not go, in training local communities to use the nets properly and consistently, and in ensuring the most vulnerable – children, pregnant women, the elderly, those with HIV/AIDS – are protected from malaria,” continued Ms. Muglia.
For more information about NetsforLife®, visit http://www.netsforlifeafrica.org/.
To help fight malaria, please make a contribution to Episcopal Relief and Development’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Inspiration Fund, online at http://www.er-d.org/, or call 1-800-334-7626, ext. 5129. Gifts can be mailed to: Episcopal Relief and Development “MDG Inspiration Fund”, P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058.
Episcopal Relief and Development is the international relief and development agency of the Episcopal Church of the United States. As an independent 501(c) (3) organization, Episcopal Relief and Development takes its mandate from Jesus’ words found in Matthew 25. Its programs work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Together with the worldwide Church and ecumenical partners, Episcopal Relief and Development strengthens communities today to meet tomorrow’s challenges. We rebuild after disasters and empower people by offering lasting solutions that fight poverty, hunger and disease, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.
