www.HeartsForTheWorld.org Bringing Hope and Help to the Developing World in Jesus' Name
Malaria INTERVENTION
Malaria kills 3,000 children EVERY day. Yet this disease is treatable and preventable with existing tools. Although insecticide treated mosquito nets are a successful preventive measure against malaria, most of the poor families in sub-Saharan Africa cannot afford them; leaving them exposed to potentially fatal mosquito bites. We need your help for this special project that can save thousands of children’s lives. $5 can save a child’s life!
AN EPIDEMIC Each year, 350 to 500 million people are infected with malaria worldwide, and over one million people die. Children living in sub-Saharan Africa account for 75% of those deaths. Sadly, nearly everyone living in tropical Africa has a malaria episode at least once a year. Source: UNICEF
WHAT IS MALARIA? Malaria is an acute, potentially fatal infection of the blood caused by a parasite protozoa called Plasmodium. An infection occurs when a person is bitten by a genus anopheles mosquito, which carries the parasite. The strain caused by the pathogen Plasmodium Faciparum is by far the most lethal and is responsible for the majority of the Malaria cases in Africa.
HOW DOES MALARIA AFFECT CHILDREN? Malaria can ravage a child’s entire body, causing fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, joint aches and general pain. Left untreated, the disease can develop into cerebral malaria within as few as one to two days. When this happens, a child can slip into a coma and eventually die. The disease is so deadly that, in sub-Saharan Africa, malaria is blamed for one in five childhood deaths.
If a child survives, he or she can still suffer significant loss. Malaria often keeps children out of school and causes them to lose valuable educational opportunities.
Malaria can cause a child’s death even before he or she is born. Women who contract malaria during pregnancy have serious health problems. They run the risk of maternal anemia, spontaneous abortions and stillborn children. Their children may suffer from impaired fetal growth, premature birth or low birth weight.
HOW CAN YOU HELP? Jan & Sydney we will be leading a missions team into Africa in February 2009. We will be ministering in three countries: Malawi, Rwanda and Kenya.
Part of our outreach in Africa will include distributing insecticide treated mosquito nets to families. We will visit poorer villages, meet people in their homes, give them mosquito nets, instruct them on proper usage and help install them as necessary.
A gift of $5.00 will purchase one mosquito net and can save a child’s life.
We are asking for your prayerful consideration in helping with this project. Funds will be used to purchase mosquito nets in Africa so the nets will be waiting for our distribution upon our arrival in February.
If you would like to purchase one or more nets please click here.
If you have questions or would like more information please contact us: