Jessica Uno is winner of the World Briefing: Telling the Malaria Contest co-sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation and Malaria No More. Her winning essay earned her a trip to cover the MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference in Kenya and report back on the latest in the global effort to end malaria.

I spoke with Silvio Gabriel, Executive Vice President and Head of the Malaria Initiatives at Novartis, about the company’s key role in the malaria fight and the numerous challenges of sustaining non-profit efforts at a for-profit company.

As Mr. Gabriel sees it, anybody can fund malaria control efforts. However, companies like Novartis –with deep medical experience, expertise in training and education programs and knowledge of effectively distributing treatments– have a responsibility to provide patients with the prevention and treatment tools they need to fight malaria. This can help affect the most change.

Reducing the malaria burden is not simply a matter of big money, but of big IMPACT, especially sustainable impact. By raising awareness of Novartis’ Malaria Initiatives program, for example, the company is influencing others to follow their strong example of a public-private model. Such a model encourages other companies to make philanthropic, compassionate work a routine part of corporate activities. Corporate social responsibility programs also pave the way for powerful partnerships, such as that between Novartis and Malaria No More, which further reinforce the positive feedback loop of sustainable impact.

When I asked Mr. Gabriel about his motivations to push the Malaria Initiatives program forward, even in the most challenging situations, he offered encouraging advice: be realistic yet optimistic. He stated that he’s most inspired by the patients and their needs.  It’s the classic theory of “focusing on the solution rather than the problem,” he said. And Mr. Gabriel has proven that this mindset can help reduce suffering related to malaria. “Think of how many lives we can save, not how many people are dying,” concluded Mr. Gabriel. “That’s the way to make a sustainable impact in fighting malaria.”

Jessica’s trip to Kenya was supported by Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation and Malaria No More.

Jessica Uno is winner of the World Briefing: Telling the Malaria Contest co-sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation and Malaria No More. Her winning essay earned her a trip to cover the MIM Pan-African Malaria Conference in Kenya and report back on the latest in the global effort to end malaria.

After dinner on my first full day in Nairobi, I received this message on my dessert plate. “…Energy and Persistence conquers all things…” It is a sign! I often feel overwhelmed when thinking about the staggering death toll of malaria on vulnerable peoples. However, in light of talking with Ambassador Green about “finishing the job” and hearing exciting presentations confirming the success rates of the Novartis malaria initiative program and other antimalarial efforts, this message was a very coincidental way to end my day.

Jessica’s trip to Kenya was supported by Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation and Malaria No More.

Last week, I was both inspired and humbled at the hands of some amazing six and seven year old students in the South Bronx. Each year, this local elementary school embarks on a penny drive competition among the classrooms to raise money for a charity selected by the winning room. The winning room from last year, a group of enthusiastic first graders, raised more than 120 pounds of change to win the competition handily. This year, that same group of students is now in the second grade, and is now learning what they can do to join in the fight against malaria.

When I was asked to spend a day speaking to first and second grade students about malaria and how young people can get involved, I was immediately thrilled with the opportunity. I expected a day filled with reading stories about malaria and passing around a mosquito net. What I didn’t expect was the level of concern, knowledge, and enthusiasm that was displayed by each of the classrooms that I visited. 15-minute presentations turned into 45-minute question and answer sessions with students quizzing me, “Why don’t you find a way to stop malaria?” and “If I can’t get malaria here, why can someone else get malaria there?” The simple questions, unfortunately, did not have simple answers.

Students listened intently as I spoke and eagerly raised their hands with questions when I finished. Afterwards, each student was asked to draw a picture from one of the malaria-related stories that I had read and to write a simple sentence describing their picture. They couldn’t wait to show me their finished products as I walked around the rooms and helped them spell “mosquito.” I was met with pictures of mosquitoes and mosquito nets and children, and I found sentences such as, “Stop the Sting” used to describe the drawings. The kids were each given the opportunity to stand under a mosquito net and to feel the material, which helped them to see exactly what their efforts could provide. Empowered by the notion that, even though they were only kids, they could still do something to make a big difference and literally save lives, students from different classrooms declared that they would win the penny war this year and that all of the change that was collected throughout the school would be used to buy mosquito nets just like the one they got to stand under.

While the winning room of the penny drive has yet to be determined, to say that the eagerness and passion displayed by the first and second graders at a local elementary school in the South Bronx was inspiring would be an understatement. Asked at the end of the day by a second-grader if I would be returning to teach the students again on Monday, a young girl interrupted before I could answer with, “Miss Lacey can’t come back Monday. She has to stop malaria on Monday.”

Lacey is the new Marketing Associate at Malaria No More and star soccer player on the MDGs 2015.

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.

Our deadline for full coverage in Africa by 2010 is rapidly approaching, and we remain confident we’ll meet our goal. Special Envoy for Malaria Ray Chambers recently briefed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the progress being made in Tanzania and Uganda: 52% of the people living in sub-Saharan Africa are covered, offering protection to about 360 million people.

Mr. Chambers: With only 16 months remaining until December 31, 2010, we remain confident that universal coverage is within our grasp. While challenges remain to be overcome, the unprecedented assemblage of dedicated leadership, proven interventions, available resources, and collective will position us to achieve the ultimate goal of a world without malaria deaths.

And since we’re aiming for 100% coverage in 490 days and an end to malaria deaths by 2015, we need your help in achieving these malaria milestones. Join our “net-work” here.

Have a birthday coming up? Getting ready for a housewarming get together? Want an excuse to throw a party? Look no further than 8-year-old, Roman Johnson, for an inspiring reason to raise the roof.

For his latest birthday, Roman asked friends and family to give him money to donate to Malaria No More, instead of giving him gifts of toys that he didn’t need. He even cashed in checks from relatives to get the giving pot started. At his party, parents of friends were at first confused by the birthday twist but then caught on that Roman was celebrating by being charitable and contributed as well. In the end, Roman raised $250, which will help provide 25 children with lifesaving bed nets, insuring that they’ll be around to celebrate their next birthdays.

Thanks, Roman! Not only did your birthday wish of saving lives come true, but you made someone else’s birthday, too!

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!

Our friends at the Malaria Policy Center took to the DC streets armed with a flip video and five questions to quiz pedestrians about malaria. Most people had a pretty good idea about our African enemy #1 (malaria!) – and you can check out their responses here.

Now we want to know what YOU think.

• What is malaria?
• How does malaria spread from one person to the next?
• How can someone protect themselves against malaria?
• What do you think is being done in Africa to beat malaria?
• How can you help us win the malaria fight?

Send us your answers to our list of questions and we may just post them on our blog! Comment on this post. Send us links to your video. Tweet to us on Twitter. We want to know your malaria know-how!

Excited for this weekend’s opening of Dan Brown’s controversial thriller, Angels & Demons? The highly-anticipated sequel to Brown’s first hit The DaVinci Code, Angels & Demons is based on a quest to uncover an elaborate plot to annihilate Vatican City…

And that got us thinking, who did kill the Pope?

(hint: it wasn’t the Illuminati)

• Otto II, King of the Germans and Emperor of Rome died of malaria in 983
• Pope Gregory V is thought to have died of malaria in 999
• Pope Leo X died of malaria in 1521
• Pope Sixtus V died of malaria in 1590
• Giambattista Castana was elected Pope Urban VII in 1590, but died of malaria before his coronation

In fact, so many popes fell victim to malaria that it was dubbed the “Roman fever” in the 14^th century.  While Angels & Demons will make you think otherwise, seems that malaria was the Catholic Church’s biggest threat for several centuries. Unfortunately for many in Africa, malaria still remains a very real and scary threat.

Help us annihilate malaria!

The PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative’s (MVI) mission is clear: to accelerate the development of malaria vaccines and ensure their availability and accessibility in the developing world. Unfortunately, the process is not-to develop a vaccine, get clinical approval, and make it available on the market is a long and tortuous journey that can take 5 to 10 years… resulting in the heavier cost of human lives.

To overcome these obstacles, MVI has created the Malaria Vaccine Advocacy Fellowship. MVI’s researchers are very close to developing an important malaria vaccine and they believe that it’s crucial to start advocating now, rather than waiting up to ten years for the vaccine’s approval. MVI’s Advocacy Fellows will play the crucial role of helping scientists convey their important findings to policymakers, journalists, and communications specialists. By bridging the gap between researchers and policymakers, Advocacy Fellows can help shape policy and practice to ensure that as soon as the vaccine is approved, it can be made available immediately– even to the most remote areas of Africa so that children and families can be saved from the severest forms of the disease.

MVI’s researchers and fellows have joined together in a powerful 5-minute presentation to convey their central message: the time to begin preparing for an eventual malaria vaccine is now.

Malaria Vaccine Initiative: “Preparing for Malaria Vaccines”