One of the main advantages of being seen as a parent blogger is that I get approached by people looking to help highlight certain campaigns that involve children. One’s like this campaign, launched for World Malaria Day (today) which aims to provide parents with materials to make learning about malaria and its impact worldwide interesting and fun for young children.
Malaria is a curable and treatable infectious disease, transmitted by mosquitoes. However, every 60 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa, where malaria is the leading cause of death for children under five. Although there is no malaria in the UK, there is an opportunity for parents in the UK to stand shoulder to shoulder with parents in Africa who are still at risk of losing a child every 60 seconds. It is also a fun and interesting way for children to learn more about global health issues that affect children in other parts of the world.
For more information about the campaign please visit malaria.novartis.com and for more information about World Malaria Day 2012 visit www.worldmalariaday.org. Their website contains links to games, story books and a cartoon video designed to make learning about malaria interesting and fun.
The Friends Against Malaria campaign is part of the Novartis Malaria Initiative – a programme run by Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, to help improve access to essential medicines in malaria endemic countries. As part of the Malaria Initiative, Novartis provide treatment without profit to patients in the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa.
WHO key facts – malaria
– Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
– In 2010, malaria caused an estimated 655 000 deaths (with an uncertainty range of 537 000 to 907 000), mostly among African children.
– Malaria is preventable and curable.
– Approximately half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria. Most malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. However, Asia, Latin America, and to a lesser extent the Middle East and parts of Europe are also affected. In 2010, 99 countries and territories had ongoing malaria transmission.
