Interview: Youssou N’Dour [Al Jazeera]
N’Dour has just released a single – “Fight Malaria” – and has launched a campaign with the charity Malaria No More called Surround Sound Senegal.

Donate by text mesasge: Bellevue non-profit makes it easy [The Seattle Times]
One of the newest and most interesting innovations to combine philanthropy and technology is mobile giving. Mobile phone users can text a word such as HOPE (American Cancer Society), RIGHTS (Amnesty International), NET (Malaria No More), MEALS (Food Lifeline) or many others to a designated short code and contribute $5 or $10 to a cause.

Interview: Youssou N’Dour [Channel 4 News, London]
Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour speaks exclusively to Channel 4 News about world music and his campaign on malaria prevention with Malaria No More.

Must-Reads

Malaria in pregnancy…and beyond [GlobalPost]
Roll Back Malaria reminds us that, “In areas of Africa with stable malaria transmission, P. falciparum infection during pregnancy is estimated to cause as many as 10,000 maternal deaths each year.”

Mosquitoes deliver malaria “vaccine” through bites [Associated Press]
In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a “vaccine” of live malaria parasites through their bites.

Crucell win funding for malaria vaccine development [Reuters]
Dutch biotechnology firm Crucell said it had gained funding to accelerate the development of a malaria vaccine as it entered into a collaboration with two U.S.-based organizations, PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Malaria Vaccine Development Program (MVDP).

Just when we thought we hated them – they turn around and do something nice for us!

Malaria infected mosquitoes kill nearly a million people each year, most of them children in Africa. But in a recent experiment, mosquitoes delivered a “vaccine” of live malaria parasites to 5 innocent subjects – AND all of the subjects developed immunity to malaria! Meaning: if these people were on the show Survivor, they’d all be safe from getting shipped off the island!

This is the best bloody news we’ve heard all week. But we still have a long way to go before a doc will write us a prescription for these suckers.

Read all about the experiment here.

FC Barcelona dug their cleats in the field in Africa on their way over to the U.S., before kicking off their summer tour this weekend. Last month, the FC Barcelona Foundation arranged for another mosquito net distribution at their local community XICS center in Richard Toll, Senegal. At the center, 1500 bed nets were distributed to cover families in the neighborhood, including the 218 children that attend the center, which helps provide access to education and health services. With the rainy season approaching, the community was especially grateful for their gift of a mosquito net to give malaria the boot — once and for all!

Saturday, FCB will kick off their U.S. tour in Los Angeles, where they will take on the LA Galaxy. They will then make their way up to Seattle to battle the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday and face off with Mexican team Chivas de la Guadelajara in San Francisco the following Saturday.

Can’t make it to the games? Catch all three on Fox Soccer Channel, who will be donating a mosquito net for ever goal scored on the tour!

We can barely contain ourselves at MNM – swinging from cube to cube.

A group of 10 chirpy baboons got together to surrender their hairy bodies to science and lead the pack on the new malaria vaccine trials. The vaccine showed to offer 94% protection against malaria from a single dose and for a double dose, the protection rose to 98%, which was also found to be effective seven months later. So far, these guys are happy and healthy and we’re going bananas at the prospect of this vaccine saving millions of (non-baboon) lives!

Read more about the experiment here.

Erica is highly amused by Emily’s ability to swing from her cube with such style and grace.

What do you get when you spell NET?  Well, YOU get an automated response, but Malaria No More will get $5 towards a bed net to help save someone’s life in Africa.

Every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria, but you can help turn back time with a simple text message. It will only take you 30 seconds. Just text NET to 90999 — maybe malaria will get the message this time!

Read more about what other organizations are doing through texts here.

Sean “Diddy” Combs was a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman last night and talking to Dave about the White Party, Malaria No More and how people can help save lives from malaria with a simple mosquito net!

Check out the clip below! Thanks @iamdiddy!

Letterman had a few questions of his own about malaria. He asked Diddy, “Can you be cured (of malaria) or will you always carry (malaria) in your system?” Diddy did a great job of stressing prevention over treatment, “got to get the nets!” and we thought we’d take a minute to answer Dave’s question…

• Good news: Malaria can be treated! If the right drugs are used, people who have malaria can be cured and the disease can be cleared from their body.
• Bad news: Malaria can continue if it is not treated or if it is treated with the wrong drug. And if not treated properly, people can have a “relapse” of malaria attacks.
• Interesting fact: If you’re grandfather fought in WW2, he may have had malaria and may be grappling with it still. In the South Pacific, more American troops died of malaria than combat.
• Important fact: Prevention is the best way to beat malaria. Help send a life-saving bed net to someone in Africa here.

To read more malaria FAQs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, click here.

Late Show with David Letterman with Diddy as a guest [The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS]
Diddy made a guest appearance on the TV show and chatted with Letterman about the White Party and Malaria No More. He also encouraged viewers to visit MalariaNoMore.org to buy a bed net.

Youssou N’Dour fait son show [Jeune Afrique] (in French)
This is a feature article about the launch of the “Surround Sound: Senegal” campaign with Youssou N’Dour in June 2009. The journalist traveled with Malaria No More and writes about the distribution, Xeex Sibbiru and the caravan through the streets. Jeune Afrique, the largest pan-African publication, has more than half a million readers every week and is available in more than 80 countries.

Charity kick-starts funding for Africa [San Diego Union Tribune]
Last weekend, more than 1,300 youths competed in the inaugural Kick for Hope soccer tournament. MNM was one of the charities that benefitted from the fundraiser and MNM’s John Logsdon is quoted in the article.

Miles to End Malaria Gains New Partner [The Epoch Times]
American Le Mans Series team Patrón Highcroft Racing dedicated this year’s effort to more than just winning: Patron Highcroft joined Malaria No More to create Miles to End Malaria, whereby the team and sponsors donate funds to fight Malaria based on how many miles they complete this season.

Must-Reads

Nokia Phones to Aid Against Malaria Deaths [The New York Times/Read Write Web]
Daniel Fletcher and his team at the University of California in Berkeley have modified a Nokia N73 phone with a battery-powered LED lamp and a series of filters. The result is an extremely inexpensive portable microscope with the potential to detect malaria, sickle-cell anemia and tuberculosis from fluid smears.

Seattle scientists ready to human-test malaria vaccine [The Seattle Times]
Seattle scientists are ready to start human tests of a malaria vaccine that takes an approach pioneered more than 30 years ago but abandoned as wildly impractical.

Using Scientific Tools in an International War on Fake Drugs [The New York Times]
Counterfeit malaria drugs are of particular concern because of the scale and severity of the disease — it kills more than 2,000 children a day in Africa alone — and fears that fake or substandard malaria drugs are aggravating a growing problem of drug resistance.

Professional “footballer” for Dundee United, Prince Buaben, was just diagnosed with malaria following a trip to his home country of Ghana.  When Buaben traveled home last month, he was supplied with enough anti-malaria drugs to last the entirety of his trip.  When he decided to stay a little longer on vacation, however, Buaben ran out of the medication…and didn’t re-stock.

I think you can see where this is going.

With the onset of fever, chills, dizziness, and irregular sleeping patterns, Buaben knew something wasn’t right.  Luckily, with the help of doctors in Dundee, this soccer player was properly diagnosed and treated for malaria, and will be returning to the field in no time.

Sounds like Buaben is a perfect candidate for the United Against Malariacampaign, a partnership of non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments, corporations…and soccer teams around the world!  Now that Buaben has seen first hand how malaria can keep you out of the game, he can make a wonderful advocate for UAM, and can teach others what they can do to fight the deadly disease.

My mother always told me to take my vitamins, and I guess it was good advice!  Click here to read the article about Prince Buaben in The Sun.

Ring ring! It's plasmodium calling.

Cell phones have taken the world by storm for many reasons, and now they can save lives as well!  With the help of a Berkeley research team, Nokia has created a new brand of cell phones that helps test people for diseases like sickle cell anemia, tuberculosis, and malaria.  When medical attention is hard to come by, and it often is in malaria prone areas, using a cell phone to get tested is just about as easy as it gets.

So, how did they do it?  As part of this new Nokia N73 phone, the Berkeley team has added a compact and inexpensive microscope (the “CellScope”) that can detect malaria-infected cells from small blood samples, making it easier to diagnose people during early stages of the disease.  Doctors can also use these phones to send images of infected cells to medical labs, which will result in speedy responses, aid, and treatment.  Thanks to the work of the Berkeley research team, many more people will be properly diagnosed and treated for malaria, and we are so excited about it!  It seems like such a simple idea—use your cell to save your cells!

If you want to learn more about how these phones can save lives, click here and read the article in The New York Times!

Molly, one of MNM’s dedicated interns, uses her phone to call people. She’s so old-school.

Three guys from California got together and created a song to grab our attention, What Are You Fightin’ for Malaria No More. So of course – with lyrics like that – we’re going to blog about it! And we’re going to listen to it ALL day long! Sorry Millennium Promise (our office neighbors). We’ll keep it down…

To our knowledge, this is the first rap ever written about Malaria No More. Have a listen for yourself!

What Are You Fightin For (Malaria No More) – 3 Kali Kingz

Erica sings along, “As simple as a net? You bet!”