How can something so delicate be so damaging?
One of the hardest hammers hitting poor countries today is malaria. As many as half a billion people are infected each year, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. One to three million people die from malaria each year … and they don’t have to. A vaccine does not yet exist, but it is preventable by giving families insecticide-treated bed netting, spraying walls with inexpensive insecticides, killing mosquitoes where they breed, and providng people with proper informaiton. It is treatable with relatively inexpensive anti-malarial drugs that can prevent it from becoming deadly. What makes malaria cruel is that it is not just a symptom of poverty, it is also a cause of poverty. By making it harder to work and learn, malaria helps keep poor countries poor.
Stating that neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) not only promote poverty but also destabilize communities, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Sabin Vaccine Institute President Peter Hotez call upon the public-health and foreign-policy communities to embrace medical diplomacy and NTD control as a means to combat terrorism. “Controlling Neglected Tropical Diseases May Be Key To US Foreign Policy”
We can do something important about this. Read on …
Joseph Keating, scourge of malaria
Start learning about Hoosiers who are doing something about malaria. Joseph Keating (Marian â€93) is with the Department of International Health and Development at Tulane University, and has carried out extensive research on the transmission of malaria in Kenya, Nigeria, and Haiti … and on the social causes of malaria’s continued prevalence.
Keating’s talk about malaria was excellent. He spoke about the ongoing challenges facing malaria research and prevention like how to capitalize on the elusive habits of malaria infected mosquitoes and what social and geographic factors make areas like Haiti and Nigeria have such little success at curbing malaria.
People who attended came out asking themselves “what can we do to help?” One answer is to go to “Nothing but Nets,” the wildly successful initiative by the NBA, Sports Illustrated, the UN Foundation, etc. How wildly successful? Nothing but Nets was featured in the sit-com “Ugly Betty” Friday night.
NbN is based on a fine idea: local groups can be creative in efforts to raise money for mosquito nets, they send the money to the UN Foundation, which distributes treated nets and thus saves lives. Anyone can do it, with a little imagination and a willingness to nag your peers.
Consider this example:
My name is B. J. Larsen, a St. Luke’s United Methodist Church member and Carmel Middle School 7th grade English teacher, part of an academic team consisting of science, social studies, math and English. Part of our social studies curriculum is the study of Africa. Last year one my students expressed their concerns and desires “to do something to help.” All I could answer was “write your Member of Congress” or “contact the UN.”
But this year, while I was sitting in church one day, my pastor, Dr. Kent Millard, talked about “Nothing But Nets,” and showed the congregation “the net” — a replica of the mosquito nets that gets sent to cover families’ beds in Africa. I immediately thought, “Bingo, this is the project for our students.”
Net and DVD in hand, I set up an interdisciplinary approach with my other team teachers to instruct our students. Our social studies teacher focused on the study of the continent of Africa. Our science teacher engaged in the study of malaria. She set up blue anti-malaria net and had students sit under it to experience the feeling. Our math teacher set concrete goals and had students track with their progress with a chart— purple squares represented $1 raised, and basketballs representing the purchase of 1 net. I showed the Nothing But Nets promotional DVD, and had the class read and discuss the two Sports Illustrated Articles by Rick Reilly – “Nothing But Nets” and “Nothing But Thanks.”
The students were immediately excited and committed. They:
- brought in their own money earned by babysitting and doing chores;
- solicited funds at their parents’ workplaces and at their own sports events; and dance recitals;
- served as emissaries and ambassadors to the rest of the school – gave 5-minute presentations and passed out explanatory material and donation envelopes; and
- one student made a speech before her own congregation—the Indianapolis Church of Christ. They donated $1,000 to the cause!
When it was all said and done, the efforts of these 7th grade students (along with the team of dedicated teachers) totaled $5608 raised, which will be donated to Nothing But Nets through St. Luke’s.
Wow.
Wow indeed. That’s what we mean by “provocating”: using imagination and forming connections to solve tricky problems.
But we can do more. Nothing but Nets only has half of the idea right: local groups here are creative in raising money, but they are passive when they must mail a check to the UN Foundation. Here in Indy there are several great organizations that distribute thousands of treated nets across Africa. For instance, inmates in the Indiana Women’s Prison have designed a new shape for mosquito netting that could be even more effective than those in use. They are providing nets for villages in Sudan.
Members of the "One Net-One Life" program in the Indiana Women's Prison prepare netting for sewing
There’s a reason to say “Wow!”
Hoosiers are distributing nets as well as putting them together. The celebrated IU-Moi partnership is one of the largest distributors of nets on the continent, although it is a side project for AMPATH because the Kenyan highlands aren’t hit badly by malaria. On the other end of the scale from the multimillion dollar IU-Kenya program is a guy named Woody Collins who has an awesome organization named Congo Helping Hands. Woody distributes thousands of treated mosquito nets … (his nets cost $1.50 while the Nothing but Nets cost $10). He describes his operation:
- Our model for mosquito nets is to freely distribute nets to the most vulnerable group, pregnant women and young children.  We work with local health officials for the process. Basically, we buy their nets from them and give them away from vulnerable people through one of their health programs. Poor people gamble with their health everyday. Preventative care or prevention is at the bottom of the list.  For example, they give a net to children when they come for their preschool examination.  Also, they give nets to women who participate in prenatal consultation program.
- Our health zone is part of a USAID sponsored program called Project AXxes.  USAID provides the nets at a subsidized price. Last year, the price was $1 per net. We purchased 2,500 nets for free distribution. In the past, nets were different prices of $1.50 and even $.50 once.
- We anticipate a need for re-treat nets. The treatment does not last forever! I think this is the area that CHH wants to spearhead and champion.  In addition, there is a need to treat other materials use.  For example, most Congolese have a door and window covering cloth.  Treatment of other cloth would spread and sustain the benefits of the nets. Some grant funds or special event funds are needed to start this project.  Money donated for nets are used for nets only!
Two lives being saved by Woody Collins's net, a pretty good deal for $1.50
Last year Cathedral High School’s TGIF (Taking GLobal Issues Further) club used a 3-on-3 basketball marathon to raise money for Nothing but Nets. They invited Woody to bring his cool display to the marathon: a netted crib he has designed (with a baby doll in it, very effective), examples of nets in their packages, nets kids can handle. The Cathedral kids ate it up, Woody stayed through the entire marathon … if they hadn’t commited themselves to send the money they raised to Nothing but Nets, they would much rather have given it to Woody. You can imagine how that would have been different: Woody would have emailed them photos from Congo showing the particular individuals who were receiving nets contributed by Cathedral students, he could have helped set up email exchanges between students in Indiana and Congo, members of the community could have worked with Woody on a fundraiser to raise money for a Cathedral student representative to go to Congo with Woody to develop relations further. This is how Nothing but Nets has only having half of it right: when Cathedral mailed their check to the UN Foundation, that was the end of it for the students.
Last year Provocate talked to the director of Nothing but Nets about using her organization’s resources and infrastructure to raise money that would go directly to Indianapolis organizations that are fighting malaria with nets … she thought it was a great idea. In fact, it opens an entirely new set of possibilities for her group: right now they have a map on their website showing the countries where they distribute nets.
Think how much cooler this map would be if it showed Indiana organizations that are fighting malaria
But they could include information about US organizations in different communities that distribute nets. Of course there could be a loss to Nothing but Nets as an organization if local groups bypass the UN Foundation to raise money to give directly to groups in their communities working on malaria … but most groups would probably follow the current patterns of simply doing a fundraiser and moving on, and at any rate it would be a great PR move for Nothing but Nets if they could claim to be building local US initiatives to fight malaria around the world.
We can help NbN achieve this PR coup. We can help demonstrate that the idea of partnering local fundraising with local initiatives is feasible, and by doing so we could have a very big impact not only on Congo, and not only Indianapolis … we could help the very important organization Nothing but Nets add to its mission.
What would be involved? At a minimal level, those who attended Keating’s talks (and many others) have a follow-up opportunity to meet some of the local heroes that are fighting malaria on November 18th. By itself, that meeting gives groups like Congo Helping Hands a chance to connect to the community.
We can do more. Use the follow-up event to announce a fundraiser for Congo Helping Hands and the other groups working on malaria. The audience at the follow-up meeting would love to be part of this.
We can go even further. Let’s use the follow-up to inspire (and assist) many groups to organize their own fundraisers for local malaria initiatives. Lawrence North HS would have wanted to send their biology and international relations students to the Keating event at Marian, but because it’s their fall break they can’t. So let’s invite them to the follow-up meeting and get them involved. Bring in the Taking Global Issues Further club at Cathedral HS, and let them compete with Lawrence to see who can be more imaginative. Give the International School of Indianapolis a chance to compete with the big schools, they are focusing on Congo right now. Most churches have Africa programs, they might want to be part of this. Let’s get Kent Millard, and BJ Larsen too.
Provocate wants to help make this possible … and if you have read this far in a long article, you probably do too. To attend a follow-up discussion after Joseph Keating’s talks, to learn more about Central Indiana efforts to fight malaria around the world, to get help in starting your own initiative to be part of this fight … contact us.
