Sean Combs (aka P. Diddy) is bringing his fashion sense to the race to end malaria deaths!

Combs is co-hosting his annual White Party with MNM supporter Ashton Kutcher and Malaria No More in Los Angeles on July 4th. To raise awareness about malaria and what the world is doing to end it, his Sean John fashion label has designed a limited-edition “Celebrate Life: End Malaria” t-shirt to benefit Malaria No More.

The sale of every “Celebrate Life: End Malaria” t-shirt will send TWO life-saving mosquito nets to help families in Africa protect themselves from malaria.

The Sean John flagship store in Manhattan is decorated with mosquito nets and a special “Celebrate Life: End Malaria” window display now through July 4th. Check out our photo slideshow from the t-shirt launch in New York!

MNM is also able to offer 25% off of all full-price merchandise now through July 4th at the Sean John store. Print out this coupon for your discount and an additional donation of 10% of all coupon sales!

Get your Sean John t-shirt and help families in Africa Celebrate Life… and show the world that fighting malaria is always in fashion!

G. Love wears many hats, including one that saves lives from malaria!

“We can change the world/In a week or a day/And if you’ve got a problem/Man, I’ll sweep them away/If you find yourself in a world full of trouble/Just call on G. Love/The superhero brother/And I’ll be there”
- Superhero Brother, G. Love & Special Sauce

Staying true to his word, long time friend of MNM and self-described “Hip Hop Blues artist” G. Love put down his guitar and found a new creative outlet to fight malaria… hats! Partnering with Adventurehat.com, the Philadelphia based musician has produced a slick fedora hat inspired by the headwear of another Philly legend, Rocky.

G. Love and Adventurehat.com are generously donating 100% of the profits ($25 of each hat) to MNM to fund mosquito nets and other life-saving interventions in Africa! To get your own life-saving hat, click here.

Check out this great new video about how a Sean John “Celebrate Life: End Malaria” t-shirt helps put nets over beds in Africa—and how some web-savvy users are raising awareness and fighting malaria with their creativity!

Malaria No More from AnAnimator on Vimeo.

Steven and Bridge Lead the Charge!

Malaria No More is working on the next step in defeating malaria…or perhaps the next pedal?

In partnership with ExxonMobil and local NGO, Project Rwanda, MNM board members John Bridgeland and Steven Phillips helped to kick-start a program this week that helps fight malaria in a new way—through bike riding!

Thanks to a generous grant from ExxonMobil, we provided 50 bicycles for the Rukara Health Facility in eastern Rwanda, a group that is determined to keep the villagers of Rukara safe from malaria.  These new cargo bicycles will provide a great alternative for people who are unable to travel long distances to receive medical care—instead, the nets and treatment can come to them!

As the malaria community pusues its goal of providing universal access to malaria control tools by the end of 2010, innovative approaches to ensuring that every family is covered are vital to our ultimate success.

There are so many ways of battling this illness, and it’s so exciting to learn all the different ways we can help…who would have thought that biking could be one of them? Check out our press release with Project Rwanda!

Also read here Rwanda’s New Times article on the bike project.

Molly Dunn is an  intern at Malaria No More and is learning how Sean Combs, bicycles and lasers are all working together to end malaria deaths.

Senegalese singer Ndour opens anti-malaria drive [AFP]
Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour is using his star power to draw attention to the fight against malaria in his west African homeland, kicking off a new awareness campaign about the disease with Malaria No More at a launch concert Saturday night.

Rotary Begins Grassroots Effort to Bolster Fight Against Malaria [Seattle Times]
The Seattle Rotary Club, the largest rotary club in the world, is working to battle the existence of malaria in Zambia. The writer considers how Rotary will be able to do, with so many other organizations fighting malaria including “corporate efforts like Malaria No More”.  

ExxonMobil Supports Rwanda Malaria Outreach Program [Business Wire]
ExxonMobil, in partnership with Malaria No More and Project Rwanda, announced the Bikes for Rukara project in Rwanda, which provides bicycles to community health workers to help reach more families with their life-saving malaria prevention programs.

LinkedIn Names Jeff Weiner Chief Executive Officer [Business Wire]
Jeff Weiner, a board member of Malaria No More, was announced as the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer and board member of LinkedIn, the “world’s largest professional network”.

Must Reads

USAID giving $1 million to Africa climate project [Associated Press]
The U.S. development agency said Thursday it has committed $1 million to a project that aims to help people living along southern Africa’s Zambezi River cope with negative effects of climate change, including malaria. 

On Malaria Struggle, Baboons and Humans Have Similar Stories to Tell [Science Daily]
A specific gene difference between baboons and humans helps the animals’ ability to fight off malaria infection. Looking at genetic differences between non-human primates may teach more about how evolution has created a malaria resistance gene in primates. Read the scientific article in Nature.  

Rise of Bugs [Newsweek]
When ecosystems are changed due to human activity, new and dangerously infectious diseases start spreading.  A root cause of malaria is deforestation, which creates new environments that allow mosquitoes to thrive.  Diversity is necessary in fighting off new parasites because balance in the ecosystem keeps all organisms in check.

MNM CEO Scott Case, puttin' out the vibe at the Sean John Store in NY

Last night, we attended the launch of the “Celebrate Life: End Malaria” t-shirt at the Sean John flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan—and the store went all-out!

Not only were there “Celebrate Life: End Malaria” t-shirts displayed in the window, but there were beautiful MNM photos and signage in the storefront and throughout the store. All the sales representatives were decked out in “Celebrate Life: End Malaria” t-shirts and a DJ was spinning tunes throughout the evening.

Malaria No More staff at a high-fashion event was like a mosquito in a bed net factory (ironically out of place) but I think we held our own pretty well. And a huge thanks to the Sean John team and P. Diddy himself for helping us up our cool factor by a considerable margin!

If you’re in New York, swing by the store on 5th and 41st and see it for yourself! The Malaria No More details will be up through July 4th, the day that MNM arrives at the White Party to Celebrate Life!

From Dakar Calling…

Malaria No More is arrived in Kaolack, Senegal yesterday to help distribute mosquito nets as part of the mass distribution of nets to all children under 5 across the country.

We also found out that Youssou’s message is definitely getting out! We’re hearing “Xeex Sibbiru” all over the place…and when I walked up to a group of kids playing soccer, they saw me wearing my Youssou Ndour t-shirt and immediately started singing the song!

Soo beggee mucc/Ci sibbiru bi/Yaak say doom/Sanke bun nandal/Moom ngay fanaanoo
If you want to be safe/from malaria/you and your children/must sleep under/a treated mosquito net

Get into the groove and listen to the song here!

Every once in a while, we’re reminded that our team here at Malaria No More is a multi-talented group.  Just last week, MNM Director of Program Operations Christina Roberts released her latest studio project, A Closer Far.

This new song is a lush trip through Christina’s experiences and realizations of the last 3 years working with Malaria No More. In the summer of 2006, Christina was passing her days writing songs in Austin, Texas when she came across the founders of a new organization determined to end malaria deaths.  Affected and inspired, Christina immediately joined the new Malaria No More team full-time.  As one might imagine, battling mosquitoes hasn’t allowed Christina a whole lot of time for music—so she found a way to combine her two passions in A Closer Far.

Says Christina, “The world is probably mostly unchanged from a few years ago, but the way I see it is different—and I suspect I’m not alone.  I can no longer imagine that it is us, here, and them, there.  I am compelled to participate in the effort to make things better.”

Listen to A Closer Far (MP3).

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this song will support the ongoing work of Malaria No More.

In Kaolack, Senegal, handing out mosquito nets as part of the country’s 2-million strong distribution.

Xeex Sibbiru!

MNM’s Martin Edlund reflects on the amazing “Xeex Sibbiru” concert in Pikine, Senegal this past weekend and gives an insider’s view to the concert itself—on his blog, Dakar Calling.

Check out the blog and see a quick video clip below: