World Malaria Day

April 25th is World Malaria Day.

Malaria kills 1 million people each year. Most who die of this treatable, preventable disease are children. A gift to Compassion’s Malaria Intervention Fund will help Compassion-assist children and their families to receive the resources they so desperately need to fight this deadly disease, including:

•mosquito nets to protect children from mosquito bites
•malaria prevention education
•access to malaria medical treatment for those struggling with the disease

A little goes a long way:
•$10 will provide one mosquito net.
•$30 will provide three mosquito bed nets.
•$50 will provide five mosquito bed nets.
•$100 will provide 10 mosquito bed nets.

DONATE TO THE MALARIA INTERVENTION FUND

Why Care?

Did you know that malaria used to be endemic in the United States? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 600,000 cases of malaria in the United States alone in 1914. The National Malaria Eradication Program was launched by the CDC is 1947, and malaria was considered eradicated by 1951–IN JUST 4 SHORT YEARS! This national campaign included techniques such as widespread spraying of insecticides (DDT), water drainage, and removal of mosquito breeding sites. It was closely coordinated with state and local health programs.

So, the U.S. used to be just as vulnerable to malaria as other parts of the world still are today. Malaria and poverty are intricately connected. The disease remains most virulent in countries of the global south, especially those of sub-Saharan Africa. While wealthy countries such as the United States had means to eradicate malaria in just four years, these countries still struggle under this burden.

If we claim to care about tackling the root causes of poverty and promoting survival for the most vulnerable populations–women and children–we cannot ignore malaria any more than we can ignore HIV and AIDS.