World Malaria Day

Today is malaria awareness day. Of all of the tragedy face by the third world today malaria may be one of the most heartbreaking because not only is it treatable it is preventable. However a child dies of malaria every 60 seconds. This is something that is particularly important to me because last year Humble lost its first student ever to malaria. Many of the children who attend Humble are orphaned so to lose a friend and a classmate to something so easily prevented is heart wrenching. As you get ready for bed tonight please take a moment, the time the children at Humble will be lowering their bed nets, to think about how something so ordinary (nighttime) changes the lives of those around the world so drastically. - Malaria is preventable and treatable - Every minute, a child dies of malaria - An estimated 655,000 people died of malaria in 2010 - The most deadly malaria is plasmodium falciparum - Malaria deaths have fallen by more than 25% since 2000 - Malaria is caused by a female mosquito that bites at night - 91% of malaria deaths occur in Africa - World Malaria Day is April 25th - Malaria costs Africa $12 billion annually - In Africa, 40% of health resources are used to treat malaria What we know, is the most effective prevention is the use of bed nets. Over 90% of those with access to IRS treated nets use them, and the nothing but nets campaign has been able to send more than 6million nets to Africa. To read more about malaria and the nothing but nets campaign please visit http://www.nothingbutnets.net