Nigeria–the country that carries a THIRD of the world’s malaria burden—is part of a never-before-seen effort to aggressively cut malaria deaths within its borders. Thanks to huge investments by the World Bank, USAID and others, Nigeria is distributing 63 million mosquito nets in just 18 months.

See here a CNN report on the effort:

Melinda & Brabs

This weekend, I had the huge pleasure of traveling to Road Atlanta with American Idol alum—and Malaria No More supporter extraordinaire—Melinda Doolittle. Melinda was on hand to cheer the Patron Highcroft Race team and support their Miles To End Malaria program. During Saturday’s race, the team crossed the $50,000 fundraising mark and are still accepting donations at MilesToEndMalaria.org as they get ready for the last race of the season on October 10th in California.

The weekend was packed-full with drama. First, Highcroft suffered a crash during a practice run on Thursday. Luckily, no one was hurt and the team rebuilt the car, from the ground up, in 24 hours. The team effort was astounding!

Melinda joined us on Saturday morning to sing the national anthem (beautifully) and wave the green flag to signal the start of the race. We then slipped into fire suits and joined the team in the pit lane—an amazing experience.

To cap it off, Patron Highcroft Racing earned enough championship points to stay at the top of the leader board heading into the last race of the ALMS season.

Victoria Beckham, Stephen Webster and Malaria No More [Celebrity Baby Blog]
Victoria Beckham was recently spotted out-and-about wearing a “mosquito ring.” She explains, “malaria is such an important issue, killing more children under five in Africa than any other single disease,” Victoria went on to add, “I’m crossing my fingers this collaboration will generate loads of buzz.” From all the recent coverage, it looks like Victoria is getting her wish.

L.A. Council confirms Keisha Whitaker to children’s commission [Los Angeles Daily News]
Keisha Whitaker was appointed to the Commission for Children, Youth and their Families. Whitaker has traveled the world with her family to promote charities like Hope North, an orphanage in northern Uganda, and Malaria No More. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed her to the unpaid volunteer position on Aug. 28.

Must-Reads

African leaders ally to eradicate deadly malaria [Associated Press]
African states launched a campaign on Wednesday to stop malaria from killing an estimated 1 million people on their continent each year. The objective of the 20-member African Leaders Malaria Alliance is to eradicate nearly all malaria deaths by the end of 2015.

A Tiny Tax Could Do a World of Good [New York Times]
Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister from 2005 to 2007, and chairman of Unitaid published an Op-Ed story about how he thinks the G-20 nations could help both the poor and the global economy by fully financing lagging efforts to fight poverty and disease worldwide by imposing a very small tax on the prosperous foreign exchange industry.

Combo vaccine reduces risk of HIV infection, researchers say [CNN]
A vaccine to prevent HIV infection has shown modest results for the first time, raising hopes that a disease that kills millions every year may someday be beaten.

One of the key components of any effective malaria campaign is follow-up. You can’t simply hand someone a mosquito net, check them off your list as another prevented case of malaria, and pat yourself on the back for a job-well-done. The only time mosquito nets help to prevent malaria and save lives is when people actually use them! That’s why Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) can be so useful during malaria campaigns; they live in communities, learn local languages, and build relationships with people. This puts them in the best position to promote proper bed net usage and to follow up with individual families.

Marisa Van Osdale is one of the PCVs with a Malaria No More FlipCam. She has been documenting malaria related activities in her region of Matam in Northern Senegal, and here she shares a video of a family receiving mosquito nets and pledging to use them every night. But, as she explains below, it’s important to remind people to use the nets through subsequent visits.

Adam Horowitz is a third year Peace Corps Volunteer in Dakar. Prior, he was a Health and Community Development volunteer in Gambia.

Thanks to all of the finalists and voters for participating in the “World Briefing: Telling the Malaria Story” contest. We were amazed by the quality of the writing and the passion of so many young people who are ready to rid the world of malaria. After calculating the votes from the public and our panel of four expert judges – we are delighted to announce that the winner of the contest is Jessica Uno!

Jessica’s essay was ranked the highest by our collective panel of experts, a conclusion that was echoed by a strong showing in the public vote. Read Jessica’s essay here.

Jessica will travel to Nairobi in November for the 2009 MIM Pan-African Conference and will report back via MalariaNoMore.org and other outlets on what she’s seeing, learning and experiencing. Be sure to check back at MalariaNoMore.org to read Jessica’s blog and find out how every student can make their voice heard and help fight malaria.

We are hugely grateful to all of the finalists for submitting their incredible essays and standing with us and our co-sponsor Novartis Pharmaceutical Inc. to make Malaria No More.

Today at the United Nations, African Leaders will gather to launch the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, an influential forum for reviewing progress, addressing challenges and crafting solutions to meet malaria targets. The UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, has noted that real malaria gains will only be made with support from the very top of government.

Many African presidents, including Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, have made malaria a priority in their countries and other African leaders are signaling their commitment to ending malaria deaths within their borders and across the African continent.

In this interview with Voice of America (mp3), Ray Chambers discusses progress in the fight against malaria and the common goal of ending preventable malaria deaths in Africa by 2015, as well as the economic benefits of defeating malaria.

And on BBC World Radio (mp3), Chambers notes that we’re at a unique moment in time, in which we have the tools and the resources to fight malaria. He says that he’s not aware of any other issue in which people from all walks of life—government, NGOs and individuals–have come together to battle a disease so successfully.

Learn more at the new website, www.ALMA2015.org.

Vote for your favorite American Le Mans Series star for the annual “From the Fans” award! There are five people up for consideration for “who made the biggest impact this year?” award and one of them is Patron Highcroft Racing’s own Duncan Dayton!

Duncan is not only the owner of the first-place team, he is also one of the driving forces (pun absolutely intended) behind the Miles To End Malaria campaign. The program has raised nearly $50,000 to fight malaria in Africa, saving lives with every lap around the track!

Duncan is making impact both on and off the grid—if there were a “From the Humanitarians” award, he’d be a shoo-in! Help us give Duncan the recognition he deserves and vote today. You can also vote for favorite driver—both Scott Sharp and David Brabham have been nominated. We can’t choose between these two great guys…they’re both favorites of Malaria No More’s!

Fresh from New York Fashion Week and arriving this morning at Heathrow airport, Victoria Beckham wore Stephen Webster’s latest piece of glam rock jewelery; the mosquito ring.  Webster, famed for his originality and exquisite, cutting edge designs created the piece to raise funds for new charity Malaria No More UK and to support the Malaria Awareness Campaign which highlights the issue of malaria among UK travelers.

Victoria Beckham said, “It’s a fabulous statement piece and I’ve loved wearing it. It’s inspiring to see designers like Stephen working the power of fashion to save lives. Malaria is such an important issue, killings more children under five in Africa than any other single disease.  I’m crossing my fingers this collaboration will generate loads of buzz and funds for new charity Malaria No More UK”.

The Mosquito ring is fashioned in rhodium plated white gold set with ruby cabochons, white diamond wings, a silver diamond tail and a black diamond band and will be sold to the highest bidder. Private bids now being taken.

360 limited edition replica rings will be sold exclusively via UK online fashion retailer ASOS.com starting October 1, 2009 for £50 each.

Saving Lives Doesn't Need to Be Dramatic

There was an awesome article in TIME over the weekend on a new idea from Philippe Douste-Blazy—the man behind UNITAID–to encourage travelers to donate to help fight diseases in the developing world when they buy a ticket.

The article, entitled “New Airline-Ticket Tax to Aid the Developing World”, begins by explaining:

Starting next January, whenever you buy an airline ticket at a travel agency or online, there’ll be a new question to answer before you hand over your credit card: Would you be willing to donate $2 to help fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa?

It sounds like a small step [but] behind this call for a voluntary contribution is an unprecedented worldwide effort to make up a shortfall in official government aid to poor countries — a shortfall exacerbated by the world financial crisis.

With airlines adding extra fees for luggage, meals, seating and goodness knows what else, the donation seems like a drop in the bucket of flight prices. Unlike making a $2 investment in airplane headphones that only work in those bizarre headphone plugs, will never be used again, and only work half of the time anyway—this investment will help save lives.

(Blanket not included.)

PHR’s Miles to End Malaria news [Motorsport.com]
Former American Idol star Melinda Doolittle recently announced that she will get behind Patron Highcroft Racing’s Miles to End Malaria campaign for Malaria No More. She plans to show her support at the Petit Le Mans race as a guest of the team and will sing the National Anthem before the race.

Students Camp Out on Arts Quad to Fight Malaria [The Cornell Daily Sun]
Cornell’s student group Cover Africa hosted its fourth annual 28-hour sleep-out on the Arts Quad to raise both funds for and awareness about the malaria epidemic in Africa. The article sites Malaria No More for several of the mentioned malaria statics.

Hershey Joins with Chief Marketing Officer Council in Launch of “Pause to Support a Cause” [REUTERS]
The Hershey Company joined the “Pause to Support a Cause” social responsibility campaign that launched on Monday. Organizations committed to the campaign include the American Red Cross, Malaria No More, Feed the Children and others.

Must-Reads

Net Campaign, Vaccine Trials Mark Malaria Progress [PBS.com]
A massive malaria eradication effort is underway in Tanzania, including a widespread campaign for distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets. Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer, who heads malaria programs for the Obama administration, spoke with NewsHour in Tanzania.

New Approach Could Stop 6 Mln African Malaria Cases [New York Times/REUTERS]
A recent study revealed that a third of malaria cases in African babies can be prevented by giving them regular doses of antimalarial drugs even before the children are infected.

Flooding Will Increase Malaria in West Africa [VOA News]
Flooding brought on by unusually heavy rains in West Africa increases the incidence of waterborne disease. Regional health officials are preparing for higher levels of malaria.