Africare Hones in on Malaria

By Ellesse Sorbonne, Contributing Editor

Photo by Tony Brown/imijphoto.com

Few statistics are more wrenching than those associated with malaria. Every year more than one million lives are snuffed out by mosquitoes. The slender insect, viewed as a picnic annoyance in the developed world, wholly terrorizes the developing one. In Africa, mosquitoes are responsible for over 10,000 maternal deaths annually not to mention prenatal deaths, neonatal deaths and low-birth-weight babies. The mosquito-carried disease is the leading cause of death for children under five and is estimated to cost Africa more than $12 billion every year in lost economic growth.

Among these grim figures, perhaps the most chilling is that malaria is preventable. The knowledge and resources to eradicate the disease are available, just not where they are most desperately needed.

Much can be said of first-world apathy towards Malaria, but much can also be said of triumphing initiatives against it. One of the most remarkable campaigns has been led by Africare.

In just four years the NGO has increased the number of pregnant women receiving preventative malaria from two percent to 52 percent in the Delta region of Nigeria. And in a mere two years, it has decreased the percentage of children dying due to malaria from 137 percent to 69 percent in Benin.

Both Former South African President, Nelson Mandela and UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon have applauded Africare’s efforts, with the latter proclaiming Africare’s “focus on malaria” a significant step towards achieving the 2015 goal of nearly zero preventable malaria deaths.

Africare maintained the fight during its 2009 award dinner, themed “Combating Malaria.” The banquet held November 3rd in Washington DC instructed over 2,000 international, government, and corporate leaders of malaria’s lingering threat. Among those in attendance were U.S. Malaria Coordinator, President’s Malaria Initiative and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson.

The dinner also honored six-time Grammy Award winner John Legend with the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award. The award recognizes the work of an individual who has made significant impact on raising the standard of living in Africa. John Legend was selected for using his music and position to engage the upcoming generation in humanitarian work.

Legend’s Show Me campaign is working with the western Tanzanian village of Mbola, to empower more than 30,000 people with sustainable solutions including preventing malaria with insecticide treated bed nets. In his acceptance speech, Legend said that when a person reads about global conditions of poverty he or she is compelled to act: “When we develop a sense of empathy, when we become listeners, when we become witnesses to the truth, it requires that we turn down some of the noise and clutter of our daily lives and stop to think about the way others live.”

The Outgoing President of Africare declared John Legend, “Truly a superstar. He is a humanitarian, a fantastic entertainer and he is a person who is very concerned with ending poverty in Africa. These are some of the reasons we have chosen him to be our honoree this year. I cannot think of a better candidate to receive the award. He truly deserves it.”

Prior recipients to the award include former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, then-Presidents Nelson Mandela and George W. Bush, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates.

The awards dinner also announced the organization’s transition to a new president. Dr. Darius Mans has been selected by Africare to replace President Coles upon his retirement in January. Dr. Mans has over 30 years of development experience with a major focus on African countries. He has held various positions at the World Bank including serving as a Director of the World Bank Institute and as Country Director in Mozambique.

In an interview with the Diplomatic Courier, Dr. Mans touted Africare’s “tremendous results” in eradicating Malaria and committed himself to further combating the “scourge.” [DC]

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