This morning, we are celebrating the launch of the “United Against Malaria” campaign in Times Square!

We’re at the ESPN Zone in NYC to recognize a campaign geared to unite the world against malaria leading up the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Additionally, the breakfast welcomes Charles Ssali, a “United Against Malaria” youth ambassador (and soccer fanatic!), visiting from Uganda. Also in attendance is UN Special Envoy for Malaria Ray Chambers, Chairman of Malaria No More Peter Chernin and Major League Commissioner Don Garber, speaking as “Champions” of the campaign, plus Toronto FC player Dwayne de Rosario, US Executive  Director for the ONE Campaign Sheila Nix and United Methodist Church Bishop Thomas Bickerton.

To bring these champions together in friendly competition, we set up a Speed Kick challenge to see who can kick a soccer ball with the most speed to help us reach our goal of ending malaria deaths. The winner has yet to be determined (the champions are still firing away), but results will be in soon!

Be sure to check back on our blog and United Against Malaria sites (Facebook / Twitter) for pictures from the event of the champions, speed kick winner and a surprise guest…

On Saturday, August 1st, FC Barcelona kicked off their U.S. Summer Tour in Los Angeles with a winning game against the LA Galaxy. The biggest win for us was when a crowd of 90,000 fans cheered as the FC Barcelona team entered the field in United Against Malaria jerseys, and watched the United Against Malaria video that played overhead on the stadium’s jumboTron. Not at the game? You can still catch the nets that made these soccer stars superstars.

United Against Malaria Presentation from United Against Malaria on Vimeo.

FC Barcelona, Malaria No More and others have United Against Malaria — and the effort’s drawing national attention from feature stories in today’s New York Times and Seattle Times! Read quotes from both articles below.

Marta Segu, executive director of the FC Barcelona Foundation, in the New York Times: For Barca, our motto for 110 years has been ‘More Than a Club. This time we said, O.K., we have a responsibility with society around the world.

MNM’s own Scott Case in the New York Times: Malaria is one of the biggest killers of children in the world. This is part of a building movement in the football community with partners in Europe, Africa, the United States and Canada that is rallying around a push toward the World Cup. And the fact is it is a completely treatable and preventable disease. This is an extraordinary opportunity and we’re winning this battle.

Gabrielle Fitzgerald, senior program officer at the Gates Foundation, in the Seattle Times: The world of football has expanded a lot, and they’re making a lot of money. So it’s a social responsibility to give back to society what the society has given to the club for 110 years.

Read more about United Against Malaria here.

Barca Takes to the Field to Battle LA Galaxy and Malaria

This weekend, Malaria No More joined our partner FC Barcelona in Los Angeles for the kick-off of their US tour. In addition to a game against the LA Galaxy, Barca was in town to celebrate the United Against Malaria campaign.

At a dinner hosted by AEG and the LA Galaxy to welcome FC Barcelona to the United States, partners from throughout the soccer world joined together to announce their commitment to United Against Malaria—a coalition of football teams and heroes, celebrities, health and advocacy organizations, governments, corporations and people like you who have united ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to win the fight against malaria.

New United Against Malaria Champions were announced at the event, adding the support of Tim Leiweke (President and CEO of AEG), Don Garber (Commissioner of Major League Soccer) and Joan Laporta (President of FC Barcelona). LA Galaxy star Landon Donovan announced that he will be a United Against Malaria Captain.

At the game on Saturday night, Barca players took to the field in United Against Malaria t-shirts to help raise awareness and the crowd of 90,000 learned about the campaign on the jumbo-tron and on messaging throughout the field. Soccer’s commitment to ending malaria deaths is unprecedented—thanks to our Champions and Captains for joining the winning team against malaria!

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!

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.

This Saturday, the U.S. Men’s National Team takes on Haiti in a battle for glory in the CONCACAF Gold Cup!

In addition to an intense game between two of the region’s top teams, the game will also highlight soccer’s leadership in the global fight to end malaria deaths. United Against Malaria is a partnership of football stars, non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments, corporations, and the general public who have joined forces ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to unite in the fight against malaria.

Fox Soccer Channel is a leading partner in the global effort against malaria.  Its “Every Goal Saves A Life” program sends a mosquito net to Africa for every goal scored on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español throughout the 2008-2009 season, ensuring that each goal on the field brings us one step closer to our shared goal of ending malaria deaths in Africa.

During the broadcast, campaign partner and Population Services International spokesperson Molly Sims will give a shout-out to United Against Malaria and how the soccer community is coming together as a team to defeat malaria for once and for all. She’ll be cheering on our fellow United Against Malaria partners, the U.S. Men’s National Team!

Be sure to tune in! The U.S. will defend its Gold Cup title from Haiti from 7-9pm on Fox Soccer Channel.

Dr. Vasella and Mark Green are United Against Malaria

Just yesterday, a huge milestone was reached in the fight against malaria.  The 250 millionth dose of Coartem, an anti-malaria drug, was distributed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, which incidentally happened to be the 45 millionth dose distributed in Tanzania alone.  What an accomplishment!

For years, Novartis has been providing Coartem at cost, giving millions of families an effective (and cost-effective) way to treat malaria.  By joining forces with a variety of organizations, and focusing on people rather than on earnings, Novartis has been successful in saving thousands of lives.  Talk about being charitable!

Our MNM colleagues from the Malaria Policy Center, including former US Ambassador of Tanzania and Malaria Policy Center Director, Mark Green, attended the historic event. Mark was also able to welcome Novartis as the first healthcare company to join United Against Malaria, a coalition of football stars, non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments, corporations, and the general public who have joined forces ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to unite in the fight against malaria.

In a press conference that followed the distribution of the Coartem drug, Novartis’ CEO Dr. Daniel Vasella said:

“With 250 million treatments provided and an estimated 630,000 lives saved, the Novartis Malaria Initiative is the industry’s largest access-to-medicines program in the developing world…however, malaria demands a collaborative approach. Joining United Against Malaria in its campaign is a promising way to relieve unnecessary suffering due to malaria.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.  Congratulations to everybody on a great success!

Mother and Daughter at the XICS Center

Peace Corps Volunteer Jet Richardson (26, from Richland, WA) was on-hand at a recent distribution of mosquito nets at the FC Barcelona Foundation XICS Center in Richard Toll, Senegal. These nets were made possible thanks to the partnership between Malaria No More and FC Barcelona. This is Jet’s story about the day:

“In places like Richard Toll and other towns situated along rivers and wetlands, mosquitoes are a particular problem and Malaria is always an issue, not just during the rainy season.  Richard Toll is often overlooked because as a community it is too large to achieve 100% bed-net coverage.  But that does not mean nets are not needed. 

“On distribution day the FC Barcelona facilities looked like a small carnival complete with canopies and the smell of food in the air.  Everyone was clearly excited.  I have spoken with my host family on numerous occasions about the importance of Malaria prevention through the use of mosquito nets.  For the most part people here know why mosquito nets are important but very few have access to the nets, and those that do often need to be educated.  That is why Malaria No More’s involvement in the fight against Malaria is so important: for access and education.
 
“For me, perhaps one of the most impactful aspects of the net distribution occurred in the days following.  Many of FC Barcelona’s youth recipients are Talibe children.  Talibe is the Arabic word for disciple.  These boys are the poorest of the poor in Senegal.  They are learning lessons of humility and they live away from their families in communities of countless boys called Darahs ranging in ages from 5 to 20.  Their entire day is devoted to the study of the Koran – they receive no other formal education.  One such Darah was the recipient of around 150 mosquito nets.  The day after the primary distribution I went along to the Darah.  The kids there were the most enthusiastic I had seen through out this entire process. 

“I was honored to be witness to such small yet very meaningful act of generosity.”

Malaria No More is so grateful to Jet and his fellow Peace Corps Volunteers in Senegal who are helping us tell the story of the fight against malaria in Africa!

This past weekend, a team of us here from Malaria No More headed up to Wilton, Connecticut for the 28^th Annual Wilton Nutmeg Invitational Tournament. We weren’t just there to cheer on talented young girls as they competed for the top prize, but we were also there to bring awareness about malaria to aspiring young soccer stars and their parents. We set up a large tent with malaria information and encouraged the players to particpate in the Speed Shot, where a sports radar measured how fast each player could kick a soccer ball. The Speed Shot contest was successful in riling up plenty of fun, spawning quite a few sibling rivalries, and of course, teaching the kids about what malaria is and how we can stop it.

We had the kids kick the balls into actual bed nets, the same kind families in Africa use to protect themselves from the bite of a malarial mosquito, and we also hung up mosquito targets for the kids to aim at while kicking. It was a weekend full of giving the boot to mosquitoes!

The kids also had a visit from Congressman Jim Himes, a member of the Congressional Malaria Caucus, who came out and showed his support for the United Against Malaria campaign and also took some pictures with the lucky winners of the Speed Shot competition. Those winners also walked away with some United Against Malaria jerseys as well as tickets to a New York Red Bulls game.

But most importantly, the winners and all participants alike walked away armed with the knowledge of how to fight the malaria menace.

Nikilesh Eswarapu is an intern with Malaria No More. His fastest kick at the Speed Shot was 38mph which, incidentally, is only slightly faster than the fastest 9 year-old.