Usman and Charlotte under the net

Early this morning Usman Nawaz and Charlotte Dando, Faiths Act Fellows of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation based here at Malaria No More UK, zoomed out of London marking the start of a road trip with a difference! Usman and Charlotte will spend the next three days travelling from Leicester to Huddersfield, Blackpool to Bradford as they bring their multifaith malaria message to the North of England. Usman and Charlotte are running the Northern leg of the Where’s The Net? campaign; a worldwide relay connecting people of different faiths in an international multifaith initiative to help end malaria, a disease which kills a child every minute. The Where’s The Net? mosquito net, which is currently travelling around the UK, has already covered thousands of miles and been hung by cultural landmarks including the White House, Niagara Falls, the Golden Gate Bridge and London’s Big Ben.

Rev. Isaac joins with multifaith community volunteers to fight malaria in Ghana (c) Geoff Ward

Today is Africa Day – a celebration of The African Union, created in 1963. This union enabled over 50 countries in Africa to come together to collectively address the continent’s opportunities and challenges including poverty and urgent health issues such as malaria.

We are marking Africa Day with the launch of our new short film, shot in Ghana. The film highlights the vital role played by different faith groups across Africa, working towards a common goal to save lives from malaria. They achieve this by raising local awareness to inspire and educate their communities about how to prevent and treat malaria, a disease which still claims the lives of almost 1,500 children in Africa every single day.

By Roz Hunt and Helen Mabberley

Roz Hunt, Rachel Rose & Helen Mabberley at the House of Lords

On Monday night, we went with Sarah to the House of Lords for to help celebrate successful completion of the Live Below the Line campaign in the UK! This special ‘Thank You’ event for charity partners was a terrific opportunity to recognise some of those who helped make this year’s campaign so successful. We were thrilled to be able to be joined by just two of those who raised funds for Malaria No More UK: Tomas Christmas, who was part of a team from Oxford University who took part for us and UNICEF and has so far raised £1,370 and Rachel Rose, from North London who has raised over £780. Thomas and Rachel were among over 200 people across the country who signed up to the challenge for Malaria No More UK, pledging to live on £1 a day for five days for all food and drink. Together they’ve so far raised over £27,000 to help us save lives from malaria in Africa.

The Rt Hon Malcolm Bruce MP

In a report published today, MPs on the International Development Committee (IDC) praised the work of The Global Fund and the consistency of UK Government support to date. But they also highlighted their concerns about the impact of the delay in delivering the UK Government’s pledge to “significantly increase” resources to The Global Fund.

The report draws on evidence presented to the Committee in April by The Global Fund and DFID along with UK and international partners, including the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, about the importance of the Global Fund’s role in the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria.

Trevor Jaggar

Trevor Jaggar, a pensioner from Uxbridge has completed a 170-length sponsored swim to raise awareness and funds to fight suffering and deaths caused by malaria. Eighty-six year old Trevor completed his swim in the run-up to World Malaria Day.

He first learnt to swim when he was seventeen – fast forward almost 70 years and he completed a journey of over 4km in just over three hours. Trevor is raising funds for two charities and has already raised over £1,000 for Malaria No More UK to support life-saving malaria prevention programmes in Ghana, where the entire population is at risk of malaria.

Health worker Rra Modongo using phone and data collection forms

This week the 2012 Global Business Coalition Health Conference awarded Botswana’s innovative malaria diagnosis, reporting and mapping pilot programme its prestigious Partnership and Collective Action Award. This award recognises the contribution of partners from the public and private sector who have brought their skills, resources and technical expertise to health initiatives.

Jointly supported by Malaria No More UK and US, the pilot programme involved Botswana’s Ministry of Health, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), local non-profit organisation Positive Innovation for the Next Generation (PING), HP and mobile network provider MASCOM. Together we have successfully initiated and tested a new mobile phone based reporting, malaria diagnosis and mapping programme involving every public health clinic in Chobe District, Botswana.

By Titus O. Alzumah, Project Officer, ADDRO

Titus, helping a beneficiary to hang a net

I run the Malaria Programme of the Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization (ADDRO) in the Upper East Region of Ghana. I have been working with ADDRO for six years, helping to provide nets and education on malaria to vulnerable groups like pregnant women, children under five and the chronically ill.

Malaria remains a major problem in the Upper East Region, it is the most common cause of illness seen in health clinics. It has also affected my family. My one year old daughter, Win-Dilla, had severe malaria in March this year. She had to be admitted to the hospital twice in the same month and on each occasion spent five days in the hospital. It was one of

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Malaria Programme and the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) have launched a global plan to tackle emerging mosquito resistance to insecticides. WHO and RBM are urging affected countries and stakeholders to take action now. They want to make sure we can preserve the effectiveness of current mosquito control tools, such as long lasting insecticidal nets and sprays, and to ensure that a new generation of insecticides is available soon.

For more information on the Global Plan visit who.int/malaria

Arlene Phillips with her below the line cabbage soup & rice

Over 200 people signed up to Live Below the Line for us in May, so far raising over £23,000, with money still coming in. We have been inspired by the breadth of support from faith leaders, celebrities, politicians, students, business people and dozens of other volunteers from across the country!

We’re delighted to share just some of our highlights here, with more sure to come as people continue to take part and fundraise right up until the end of June. There’s plenty more time for your friends and family to register and get involved in this challenge to end extreme poverty and save lives from malaria.

Aloe Blacc met a school children in Ghana, every had been affected by malaria (c) Geoff Ward

This week over 10,000 people across the globe are making a change to their daily lives, to help end extreme poverty. They have chosen to Live Below the Line spending £1 on food and drink, to raise funds and awareness of the 1.4 billion people who live below the poverty line everyday for everything.

One of those people is artist and songwriter Aloe Blacc. Aloe was inspired to join the challenge after his trip to Ghana with us earlier this year to learn about malaria and the work taking place right now to make sure every home in the country has a mosquito net by the end of 2012.