Why support us

Contributing to Malaria No More! means helping prevent and cure a deadly disease. A disease that kills more young children in Africa than any other disease.

Why malaria?

Fred Matser didn't have to think twice when Ray Chambers, the first UN Special Envoy for Malaria to be appointed by Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-Moon, asked him in October 2006 to set up Malaria No More! in the Netherlands. Fred Matser knows what it's like to have malaria. About ten years ago, he contracted the deadly variant Malaria Tropica and was in the fortunate position to receive treatment in a hospital in the Netherlands. Fred is still very grateful that he survived the disease. Malaria No More! Netherlands was established in mid-December 2006.

The disastrous effects of malaria

Although malaria can be prevented and treated, 1 million people die of the disease every year, with 91 per cent of the deaths occurring in Africa and the Sub Sahara. Most of the victims are children under the age of five and pregnant women. The magnitude is taking on catastrophic proportions and the consequences are disastrous. Here are a few facts:

• In 2010, 223 million people contracted malaria.
• Children under the age of five and pregnant women are most at risk of contracting and dying of malaria.
• Every 45 seconds, a child dies of malaria. That's almost 2,000 children a day.
• In pregnant women, malaria can cause anaemia and miscarriages, as well as premature and still births.
• A baby whose mother has malaria has a high risk of being underweight and has a higher chance of getting an infection and dying in its first year of life.

People who have malaria are lethargic and are not able to go to school, care for their family or work for weeks on end. In addition to the impact this has on the local population, tourism collapses and foreign investors are difficult to find. This slows down the economy and robs entire communities of a chance for a better future. In financial terms, the disease costs Africa 12 billion dollars a year: in prevention, health care and lost productivity. Countries with malaria are poorer and have an economic growth that is 1.3 per cent lower than countries without malaria. The physical, emotional and social damage, however, are impossible to express in numbers. Malaria is a breeding ground for poverty and for itself because it deprives people of physical energy and hence the ability to tackle the disease. Malaria affects mainly the poor in remote areas who cannot afford mosquito nets and have no access to medical facilities. The poverty-disease-poverty circle is closed.

Your support can help break this vicious circle.

Why now?

In 1998, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank launched the ‘Roll Back Malaria’ (RBM) initiative as a global approach to malaria. In their fight against malaria, the United Nations formulated in 2000 eight so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that must be achieved by 2015. Malaria is a component of MDG6: 'Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases'. A number of organizations are currently tackling the malaria component of MDG6. The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) was established in 2001. At the government level, President Bush launched the 'President’s Malaria Initiative' (PMI) in 2005, and Malaria No More was established in the United States in 2006. Offices in the Netherlands, Canada and Great Britain soon followed.

Attention for the fight against malaria is at its peak: we have the tools to tackle malaria, such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets (ITNs) and drugs (ACTs), and we know that malaria can be successfully tackled with a comprehensive approach. The WHO World Malaria Report 2010 clearly shows that malaria is being successfully tackled. Not only did the number of malaria cases fall by more than 50% compared with previous years, the number of deaths did too. In addition, the WHO certified Morocco and Turkmenistan as malaria-free.
The political will to fight malaria has also increased around the world and we have received new support commitments to tackle malaria. Large-scale collaboration between several countries will enable malaria to be brought under control and finally eradicated. In other words: Malaria's time has come. As has the time for an effective approach that prevents resistance and ensures climate change does not enable malaria to spread to countries and regions where the temperatures have so far been too low for the malaria mosquito to thrive.

Help stop malaria now by supporting the cause!