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In 2006, Sports Illustrated reporter Rick Reilly wrote a column describing the devastation that malaria brings to Africa—and just how simple it is to curb malaria’s influence. Specifically, Reilly reports that nearly 3,000 children die per day of malaria in Africa. While malaria remains the deadliest disease on the African continent, it’s also one of the easiest to prevent. Malaria deaths could be reduced by a staggering 60 percent through the aid of inexpensive mosquito nets. These nets are coated with insecticide and prevent children from being bitten by mosquitoes in their sleep. They cost about $10 to purchase, ship and install.
Reilly’s article opened people’s eyes and spurred a movement. From his words, the grassroots Nothing But Nets campaign. The campaign simply asks donors to contribute $10 to provide a child with a mosquito net. The funds covers the money for the net, and distributors help to educate communities on the use of the net. In 2009, three years after the campaign had been started, Nothing But Nets had raised $30 million and had distributed three million nets. The campaign is well on the way to achieving its primary goal of ending malaria deaths by 2015.
You don’t have to stop simply by making a donation. You can also sign up as a NET-Raiser to recruit friends, family members and co-workers to donate money, or you could spread the great things the campaign does on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.
While it’s difficult with some non-profits to know exactly where your donation is going, Nothing But Nets assures donors that they’re money will go directly to a net for a child so that they can rest a bit easier.
