Today, April 25th, is World Malaria Day. Earth Day was just a couple days ago. Two causes that are important to me. So let’s dive in!
World Malaria Day
Malaria is a parasitic infection that is transmitted by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. Nearly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria. Refugees, pregnant women, and children are most vulnerable to the disease. In fact, every 2 minutes, a child dies of malaria. The disease is preventable and treatable! In 2019 however, there were still 219 million new cases and 435,000 deaths. Children under the age of five made up 70% of those deaths.
There is good news though. About a century ago, malaria was nearly everywhere in the world. Through innovation, scientific progress, financial investments, and governmental/non-governmental programs, more and more countries are being declared malaria-free! Just recently, Algeria, Argentina, and El Salvador were declared malaria-free!
Malaria Fun Fact: the word “Malaria” comes from the Italian “mala aria” or “bad air”. It used to be believed that the disease was caused by bad air around marshes.
Nothing But Nets
I don’t just happen to know all these facts and figures out of nowhere. I’ve traveled to malaria-endemic countries, like Ghana, and was placed on preventative medications at the time. During medical school, I learned about the disease. What really got me in-the-know was something much more recent. A friend of mine posted about the Nothing But Nets Leadership Summit on Instagram that was planned for April 18th-20th.
Since I am currently on a break from work and wanted to fill my time with interesting things, I signed up for the summit. I’ve always had an interest in Global Health and plan on doing international work in the future, so it seemed like a good fit. Part of the sign-up process asked if I’d be willing to speak to my members of Congress on the issue. I haven’t done a lot of formal advocacy work so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get my feet wet.
In the weeks leading up to the summit, there were a couple of virtual meetings that were held going over the congressional meetings and the summit lineup. I researched the pages of Nothing But Nets, the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI), the Global Fund, and the members of Congress I’d be involved with. All of the organizations do amazing work and have continued to do so during the pandemic as well. Set up a successful system to combat one disease and you are ahead of the game to help combat another!
The first two days of the summit were a few hours each afternoon and had all sorts of speakers associated with the Nothing But Nets organization. There was representation from the WHO, the PMI, the Global Fund, the Luol Deng Foundation, artists, models, activists, etc. Videos transported us to the frontlines of where the work is being done. It was pretty cool.
Congressional Meetings
The last day was our day of meetings! I was in a group with 5 other people representing Ohio. There were four virtual meetings lined up with the two Ohio senators and two Ohio representatives. We spoke with members of their staff rather than the Congress Senators and Reps themselves. We had a script of information we divided up amongst the six of us. Every office was receptive to what we had to say and appreciated hearing from constituents on the matter. Each of us had a different reason why Malaria elimination was important to us. Some are survivors of the disease, some are part of Model UN, and some like myself, are avid travelers interested in Global Health.
Our goal was to get them interested (many offices already were) in the fight against Malaria. But also, to ask for two main things while Congress continues considerations of the fiscal year 2022 appropriations. The first being flat funding for the Global Fund at $1.56 billion. This ask is in line with the three-year commitment that the U.S. Congress made around the Global Fund replenishment conference in October 2019. This will allow the Global Fund to save an additional 16 million lives. Secondly, we are seeking an increase for the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) from $770 million to $902.5 million so that PMI can do three main things:
A) increase procurement of next generation bed nets to overcome insecticide resistance,
B) train and deploy more community health workers to reach at-risk populations, and,
C) address global supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19 that led to increased manufacturing and freight costs for malaria commodities.
Bottom line: Advocacy is fun and important!
The meetings were totally not intimidating and the staffers really enjoyed hearing from us. We had former congressional staffers working for Nothing But Nets now that reported that they really liked talking with constituents while on the Hill. So if you find a cause you are passionate about and can get involved with congressional meetings, do! Hopefully next year, I’ll actually be able to go to Washington D.C. and show up in person for the meetings.
If you’d like to learn more or even donate to the good cause, check out these links:
- Nothing But Nets: https://nothingbutnets.net
- The Global Fund: https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/
- The President’s Malaria Initiative: https://www.pmi.gov
Earth Day
I could write a whole blog of its own on the topic of saving the beautiful planet we live on. So, I will keep it short here and keep content for future posts. Short and simple, we need to care about our planet and climate change. We need to care NOW and act NOW. Limiting climate change isn’t just selflessly for the planet but also very much selfishly to keep the human race alive. Many humans, mostly in the poorer regions of the world, are already suffering greatly from global warming. The cruel irony is that the people who contribute the least to the problem are the ones most imminently and strongly effected by it.
I have been interested in living in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way for a long time. I remember buying books about the subject in my teenage years. It started off with an awareness of turning off the faucet when not in use, turning off lights, unplugging electronics, and recycling appropriately. My vegetarianism was not initially motivated by the environmental impact but it solidified my stance when I learned about how many resources the meat industry uses to produce a pound of meat.
Over the course of the my life, I have taken opportunities to learn more about what needs to be done. I continuously analyze different aspects of my life and think about how I can live a more sustainable, environmentally friendly life. I’ve swapped out various products for environmentally friendly, plastic free alternatives (I’ll share some of my favorites in the future!). I try to reduce my consumption of goods, reuse items I have or buy second hand, and try to recycle everything that is recyclable. If I can, I walk everywhere I can instead of getting into the car. If public transportation is available, I try to utilize it. There really are limitless ways to help and many have the added bonus of being good for you or your wallet.
As I said, I will touch on the subject more in future posts. I believe everyone can change little things in their life if they are made aware of them! It is not hard implementing measures but you first have to be consciously aware of them. Once you are, it becomes second nature. It’s becoming more prevalent in the mainstream as well with more car companies reporting converting their fleets to electronic cars and President Biden’s commitment to combating climate change at the recent Climate Summit that included 40 world leaders. It’s happening and it needs to! We need to be better residents of this precious planet. Mars doesn’t look very inviting yet.
mfg
