I think it’s safe to say that most New Yorkers are excited about this Sunday’s NYC Marathon, but Malaria No More has an added reason to cheer this year!  More than 35,000 incredible athletes will compete on Sunday—and nine of them have gone the extra mile to dedicate their race to raising funds and awareness for Malaria No More.  So far, our “team” has raised an unbelievable $25,000 for life-saving mosquito nets (that’s enough to protect more than 5,000 people from malaria) and donations are still coming in!

Not being a runner myself, I can’t begin to imagine the challenge of training for a 26.2 mile race. On top of that, these amazing individuals made time to hold fundraising dinners and bowling parties, and send lots (and lots) of emails to their friends and families asking for support.  All of us at Malaria No More couldn’t be more proud of what they’ve accomplished and we wish them the best of luck on Sunday.  We’ll be right there with them on the course to show our support…cheering from the sidelines, of course!

Kelly is Development Officer with Malaria No More and a Marathoner-In-Spirit.

MNM volunteers fraternizing with the enemy

Want to really spook some people this Halloween? Dress up like one of the most horrifying and dangerous creatures on the planet—the nefarious anopheles mosquito. By threatening to spread malaria while people sleep, you can explain that for a $10 mosquito net you’ll leave them alone…or else!!! Better yet, bring a friend along dressed as a mosquito net as an updated (and very globally-aware) angel/devil concept.

Or you could just go as human trash, instead of the beautiful Snow White costume that your mother slaved over for weeks when you were in the 1st grade. Sorry, Mom.

There’s a very cool BBC documentary on artemisia, a Chinese herb that is very effective in treating malaria and is a key ingredient in modern anti-malarial drugs known as artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs).

Just like Sumitomo Chemical and A to Z Textile Mills opened the first mosquito net factory in Tanzania (with the tagline “by Africans, for Africans”), African farmers are working to cultivate artemisia on their own farms to fight malaria from the inside out.

This film follows the story of Clovis, his passion for farming and his dedication to pulling his community out of malaria’s grasp. Take a look at the 45-minute film, part of the BBC’s Survival Series, here.

Randa Kuziez in Mali with Malaria No More

On Septemer 24th, in honor of the midway point of the MDGs, Saint Louis University held its first ever Fast-a-Thon to benefit Malaria No More.

SLU’s Muslim Student Association invited fellow students to take part in Ramadan for one day and abstain from eating or drinking from sunrise to sundown. More than 400 students of different faiths broke the fast together with a full dinner and discussion on Islam, Ramadan and Malaria No More. Local sponsors donated $1 for each participating student and the MSA raised over $1,000 to provide life-saving mosquito nets!

On hand was Randa Kuziez, Vice President of the National Muslim Students Association, who traveled with Malaria No More to Mali in December 2007.

Thanks to all the students at SLU for joining in!!

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to meet Dayle Haddon, a UNICEF Ambassador, spokeswoman for L’Oreal, and all-around amazing individual.

Dayle is incredibly passionate, especially about issues that affect women and children in areas of the world that—I imagine—most international supermodels don’t spend a lot of time visiting. But Dayle has committed herself to highlighting the struggles of women across the globe and especially in Africa with a trip to Darfur in 2007 and a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo this summer with the Enough Project.

I spoke with Dayle a few days before her trip to the DRC to meet with women who were victims of what the UN has called “the worst sexual violence in the world”. “It’s going to be intense,” she admitted. But Dayle was determined to tell their story to the world and to urge action on their behalf, relating her experience to CNN in a special commentary and video that appeared this week.*

I thank her for sharing their stories with me and so many others and think that the closing line of her commentary can be applied not only to the women she works so hard to help, but also to Dayle herself, inside and out: She is beautiful.

*Please note that the commentary includes descriptions of sexual violence that some may find difficult to read.

Flicking through the channels the other night, I came across Samantha Who? and—surprise, surprise!–stumbled upon some pop culture malaria awareness. The main character, in a fit of goodwill, plans a trip to Africa and tells her parents, “and you know what, you guys can help too because I found a website where for $10 you can send over a mosquito net and help a child from getting malaria.”

Spoiler Alert! Our flaky protagonist ditches her Africa plans after seeing the number of vaccinations she’ll need. But no matter. Over 10 million people watch Samantha Who? every week. That’s 10 million Americans who just learned how to save a life thanks to a quirky amnesiac with a heart of gold.

President Bush spoke today at the White House Summit on International Development and singled out malaria as a success story of foreign aid. The president acknowledged the global financial situation and what it ominously portends for foreign aid, but noted: “America is committed—and America must stay committed—to international development for reasons that remain true regardless of the ebb and flow of the markets. ”

The coming months will show how a new administration responds. In the meantime, I echo one of the president’s closing remarks:

“…the cost of abandoning our commitments would be far higher than the cost of fulfilling them.”

To read the full remarks, click here.

The ONE Campaign provides an on-the-ground viewpoint here, reporting from the summit in DC.

Attention Los Angeles!

Malaria No More has 300 tickets to an exclusive pre-show character breakfast for the November 1st L.A. premiere of The Backyardigans Live! Tale of the Mighty Nights and preferred seating at the stage show. In addition to prime seats at showtime (which go for $67 on Ticketmaster), the charity tickets include a breakfast event where kids can meet their favorite Backyardigans, play games and get great Nickelodeon gift bags.

Tickets for the whole shebang are $100 through the MNM website and all proceeds go directly to Malaria No More to buy life-saving mosquito nets. Check out the details on our MNM Backyardigans! site and let us know if you want to join!

The other night I was at the Comedy Cellar in New York City, and as I was walking down into the audience, I looked to my left and there was Dave Chappelle on stage!  He decided to make a guest appearance and do a routine on stage that night.  I should’ve known better than to just walk in the middle of the audience during a stand-up show, but right before I could sit down, Chappelle called me out and said, “Hey, where you from?”  I told him about my Atlanta background and got a few jokes out of that.  Then he asked what I did and I told him that I work with Malaria No More. 

“Malaria?…what the *&%$ is that?” was his response. I gave the whole spiel that malaria was the leading killer of kids in Africa, prompting a shocked response from Chappelle, “…oh, word?”  I thought that would get me off the hook, but he just kept asking more questions!  What is a bed net, where does the money go, and what he could do about it.  I told him that he could text the word NET to 90999. Right away, Chapelle took out his cell phone number and did it in front of everyone and he made everyone else do it too!  It was crazy seeing everyone pull out their cell phones to help during a comedy show. 

Then, people in the audience were asking questions about it.  He kept saying the texting number out loud and then he asked for the website.  I told him it was malarianomore.org.  It was amazing that he spent about 30 minutes of his set talking about going to Africa.  He even called his wife to tell her that he saved a life today and that cancels out all the bad things he’s done.   This comedy night was definitely another awesome way to invest my $10…

Rohit is an intern at Malaria No More and a Dave Chappelle fan.

As the country prepares itself for the third and final presidential debate Wednesday night, the financial crisis has taken center stage. The questions will focus on domestic and economic policy. Unsurprisingly, the bailout, foreclosures and taxes are expected to be the central issues.

Foreign aid is undoubtedly in danger as the world faces an uncertain future of financial restrictions. But both of the presidential candidates have pledged to support malaria control efforts if elected. Ending malaria deaths is one of the best investments the world can make today, not just in terms of lives saved but in the remarkable potential for gains in productivity if the burden of malaria were lifted.  Malaria costs Africa $12 billion annually in lost productivity and eats up 40% of hospital expenditures.  Wiping out malaria provides one of the best returns on investment available in global health today.

“When I am President, we will set the goal of ending all deaths from malaria by 2015.  The United States must lead, and when I am President we will step up our focus on prevention and treatment around the world to get this done.” -Barack Obama, 9/25/08

“…You have my pledge that, should I be elected, I will build on [public and private programs] and other initiatives to ensure that malaria kills no more.” -John McCain, 9/25/08

Malaria No More, in turn, pledges to help them keep these promises.