Do you remember the last time you had a mosquito bite? It was annoying, wasn't it? Did you go camping and get a lot of bites? That probably made you terribly uncomfortable, but it was probably easy to treat with some Benadryl cream or a dab of witch hazel. Did you ever, though, fear for your life when you got those mosquito bites? Probably not, but for millions of other people around the world, a mosquito bite might well be the start of a serious illness that can lead to death.Malaria. It seems so foreign when you live in the U.S., but malaria kills millions of people every year. Refugees are especially vulnerable to Malaria because of where they live and the often poorly protected conditions in the camps. Those who contract malaria but don't die from it, may still face a lifetime of ongoing effects of the illness, including possible brain damage and full-blown relapses. Some of the refugees who come here, particularly from Africa and Burma, have lived through this ordeal or lost family members to it.
International facts:
- Each year, malaria afflicts approximately a half-billion people (roughly the population of the United States, Canada, and Mexico combined).
- Malaria kills more than a million people per year; 90 percent of those who die are African children.
- Every 30 seconds in Africa a child dies of malaria.
- Malaria incapacitates people, keeping countries poor. In addition to the health burden, malaria illness and death cost Africa about $12 billion per year.
And yet, it's not that hard to stop an infection in the first place. A simple mosquito net is often a very effective barrier between a human and a malaria infection. Do you have $10 to spare? For a small donation of only $10, you can help Nothing But Nets purchase one mosquito net to be used by a refugee. Think about it. Skip a couple of trips to Starbucks and use the money to save a life. Or two.
- This fall, Nothing But Nets will work closely with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to send urgently-needed nets to more than 630,000 refugees in 27 camps in four countries where the threat is greatest:
- Uganda
- Eastern Sudan
- Kenya
- Tanzania
