Historic Change, in $10 Increments

by Christine Van Lenten

A Grassroots Campaign to Vanquish Malaria and Spur Africa's Economy

What if people of modest means had the ability to help save millions of children's lives and in so doing help lift entire economies and contribute to a cascade of benefits that would extend well into the future and ripple around the world?  That would be philanthropy of historic proportions.

A new campaign, Malaria No More, puts this opportunity within easy reach of every person who can spare $10, by ramping up fundraising efforts targeted at malaria. The campaign was officially launched on Dec.14, 2006, at the White House Summit on Malaria, which was designed to mobilize global support for ending malaria's grip on Africa.

The summit's heavy-duty roster of participants reflects the recent surge in resources devoted to this cause, which results in part from the recognition by African nations and the international community that development goals for Africa can't be fully achieved as long as malaria rages. Each year malaria claims 1 million lives, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Every 30 seconds it ends an African child's life.

But the mosquito bites that transmit malaria inflict far more damage than these statistics indicate. Malaria inflicts a chronic burden on the health care systems in African nations. It impedes economic progress. It has worsened poverty, which in turn can foster political instability. 

Moreover, the number of malaria cases is growing. Some treatments are losing their efficacy, as the parasite that causes malaria mutates. The areas within which malaria-transmitting mosquitoes flourish are expanding, as climate change warms the world. 

To outpace these forces will require extraordinary measures. 

Listening and learning 

The field of malaria control can be confusing and intimidating. It seems crowded with multilateral institutions, large government agencies, major foundations, and leading corporations. If you're an ordinary citizen, what can you do to help?

Ray Chambers asked himself this question. A successful businessman who's realized his dream of becoming a philanthropist, Chambers chairs Millennium Promise, a nongovernmental organization that furthers the goals of the UN Millennium Project. In this position, he came to acquire a deeper understanding of the pressing strategic and humanitarian need to vanquish malaria in Africa, and he resolved to help. He recruited leading organizations to co-found Malaria No More and a distinguished board to guide it. Many more partners have signed on. Altogether, it's a formidable alliance.

But how could this fledgling organization actually make a difference? When Chambers visited Africa for Millennium Promise, he listened -- to villagers, local government officials, and local NGOs. When Malaria No More's CEO, John Bridgeland, visited Rwanda, he listened, too. Chambers and Bridgeland also consulted Malaria No More's board and partners and the officials of leading research organizations, government agencies, and foundations.

What they heard was universal agreement that there is no magic bullet: While scientists pursue better and cheaper malaria treatments and the elusive, long-sought vaccine, efforts must proceed on many fronts.  The good news is that some drugs are effective in treating malaria. Better still, malaria can be prevented using measures that are amply proven, readily available, simple, and cheap.

The bad news is, in thousands of villages spread over a vast territory, preventive measures remain woefully, shockingly under-used. 

The bad news pointed to the strategy that Malaria No More would adopt. 

Closing the bed-net gap

That strategy capitalizes on the nocturnal habits of the mosquitoes that transmit malaria. They usually bite people between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. This presents an opportunity: People can be protected from mosquito bites if nets are installed over their beds.  And treating the nets with a long-lasting insecticide roughly doubles the protection afforded.

It's widely known that bed nets work, and their use is spreading -- but slowly.  Only a small fraction of people at risk are now protected. Malaria No More aims, as Bridgeland puts it, "to close the bed-net gap," by complementing and augmenting what other organizations are doing to combat malaria. To greatly raise global awareness of malaria's toll and efforts to control it, his organization seeks to ignite a massive grassroots campaign. To attract new private sector resources, it will mobilize support from individuals, corporations, religious institutions, schools and athletic teams, foundations, and nonprofits. It will channel those resources through partner organizations. Contributions, in $10 increments, will pay for:

• the purchase and distribution of bed nets;


• training of more volunteers to educate more people about how to use bed nets -- a component essential to success; and


• monitoring and evaluation of local efforts and reporting of results to public health officials, so converging streams of information strengthen national malaria control programs.

While its focus is bed nets, Malaria No More and its partners stress that bed nets must be part of a comprehensive approach. Insecticide can be sprayed on the interior walls of homes. Larval mosquitoes in bodies of water can be killed with chemicals that don't harm the environment. More volunteers can be trained to educate more people about malaria control measures and about how to identify the earliest signs of malaria, so they can seek immediate treatment at a clinic if they are infected.

Enlisting the private sector to provide bed nets as a first line of defense frees African nations from this task, so they can devote more resources to strengthening their health care systems. Preventing cases of malaria reduces the burden on those systems. And of course it prevents the other tolls that malaria exacts.

What the givers receive

With its simple and powerful appeal -- an affordable, ready handle on a devastating problem and an exhilarating chance to help make history -- a heavily promoted bed-net campaign could gain traction fast. For example, Bridgeland's 12-year-old daughter is already organizing a campaign in her school. Students carry such news home; parents may join in; neighbors, too. As stated on the White House Summit on Malaria website:

Under the leadership of Malaria No More . . . [o]ne American with just $10 can save a life in Africa. A school, a church, or a team can save a village. Together, Americans can help protect an entire continent. 

And change it.  Freed of malaria's burdens, Africa will be a significantly different place. And the people who contributed to this change may be different, too, as they recognize their individual and collective power to change the world.

Let the $10 contributions begin!


A freelance writer in New York, Christine Van Lenten has written about malaria, ending hunger in Africa, sustainable development, climate change, and many other issues for the New York Academy of Sciences.

Her recent eBriefing on a conference cosponsored by The Earth Institute and the Academy, State of the Planet 2006: Is Sustainable Development Feasible?, covers many topics related to the Case Foundation's mission.