World Vision
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with
children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential
by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.
The Impact of Malaria
Malaria is a significant health burden in the developing world and one of the leading
causes of death in children. According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF,
each year approximately 900,000 people die from malaria, nearly 85 percent of them
children. Malaria is the fourth leading cause of death for children under five years
worldwide and ninth for adults. To put this in perspective, death from AIDS ranks
sixth (321,000) for children and fourth for adults (2.8 million), according to WHO.
In addition, malaria has a significant impact on pregnancy, which leads to anemia,
stillbirths and the delivery of small babies at higher risk of dying.
The Importance of Bednets
Treated bed nets and anti-malarial drugs are key tools to fight malaria around the
world. While life-saving preventive measures are inexpensive by U.S. standards,
they are out of reach for poor families in malaria-prone regions, who must watch
helplessly as their children suffer.
Malaria is endemic in 109 countries, including 64 countries where World Vision works.
World Vision is committed to raising increased resources - public and private -
to overcome this tragedy.
3 Million Nets
In partnership with the Against Malaria Foundation, World Vision has set a goal
to provide 3 million bed nets to communities in four African Countries:
Universal Coverage - All sleeping spaces in a village covered
When a large number of households in a community use insecticide-treated bed nets,
people living within 300 meters receive the same level of protection as those under
nets. This occurs because the insecticide treated nets both kill the mosquitoes
– preventing them from biting and infecting others – and disrupt the cycle of the
parasite (
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene).
A Tanzania study has demonstrated that if 75 percent of an entire village sleeps
under a treated bed net, the malaria incidence among children is reduced by 98%
for those sleeping under a bed net, and by 90% for those without bed nets (The
Cochran Library and PLOS Medicine).
The protective effect of insecticide-treated bed nets has the potential to prevent
as many as 1 million deaths from all causes for children under five years old in
sub-Saharan Africa (American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene).
World Vision is committed to a goal of 100 percent coverage with 80+ percent
usage in each target community.
For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.