We are delighted to say we have now reached a cumulative total since AMF started of 75 million nets funded or able to be funded!
This has been possible through the support of 111,000 people in 189 countries who have made 348,468 donations. Thank you!
Once all are distributed, these nets, protecting 135 million people, can be expected to prevent the deaths of 50,000 to 70,000 people and avert 50 to 70 million cases of malaria.
Our first net distribution was in 2006 and was of 3,000 nets and our largest distribution to date has been of 12.8m nets in 2017. The total number of nets distributed or planned for distribution is 41.5m nets and distributions totalling more than 30m nets are being assessed now. The net distributions we now fund are multiple millions of nets at a time as this is the way we can best contribute to the fight against malaria.
There is a significant gap between the nets we can fund and the requests we currently have so we will continue to work hard to contribute all we can to close the net gap.
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This is an accessible book that tells the story of malaria very well.
I have just finished reading it and would recommend it if you are looking for an easy, enjoyable read that leaves you with a much greater understanding of the how and why of malaria.
The book focuses on people and countries and is not at all technical.
Dr Andrew Spielman and Michael D'Antonio wrote the book in 2002 so it doesn’t cover the last 15+ years of progress fighting malaria but it is no less relevant for that. In fact, many of the stories of malaria – the victories and subsequent resurgence – are as relevant today as when the book was written.
If you have recommendations for other books that similarly tell well the story of malaria please do let me know.
Declaration: I have no connection with the authors and neither AMF, nor anyone associated with AMF, has any financial interest in the book or its sales.
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Hot on the heels of our previous blogpost, albeit completed before, we’d like to offer our admiration and congratulations to the not-so Oardinary Boys, Oli Glanville and George Randell, for successfully Rowing the Atlantic - 3,000 miles in a very small boat.
And they didn’t just row it, they smashed it: they are now the second fastest pair in history to row the Atlantic.
Oli and George took part in the 2017 Talisker Atlantic Challenge, setting off from San Sebastian in the Canary Islands at 6am UTC on 14 December 2017. They made land in English Harbour, Antigua and Barbuda at 22:01 UTC on 20 January 2018, just 37 days, 16 hours and 1 minute later.
This is an extraordinary challenge: 2 hours rowing, 2 hours rest, for a period of up to 60 days. Relentless. Non-stop. Burning 10,000 calories a day, consuming 6,000. You lose 20% of your body weight. 1.5 million oar strokes. It would require paragraphs here to give even a flavour of the dedication, training, strength – both physical and mental – discomfort and pain that goes into completing a successful Atlantic Challenge. We'll leave you to imagine it, if you can.
Oli and George chose to have two charities benefit from their pain and efforts, Alzheimer's Research UK and AMF.
We are delighted to report they raised an extraOARdinary £26,419 for AMF, 100% of which has been used to buy 18,606 long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) to protect 33,500 people when they sleep at night from the bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes - that would otherwise cause severe illness, or worse. That's the equivalent of 67 entire villages covered. These nets can be expected to save the lives of 10 to 15 people and prevent 13,000 cases of malaria.
Oarsome. HUGE congratulations Oli and George – and thank you.
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We don't generally blog about a fundraising event, completed or otherwise, but an English Channel Swim is different.
What's different is that it is an extraordinary challenge. It is rightly one of the iconic challenges. 21 miles, as the crow flies, you and a swim suit and some grease to keep you warm-er. It requires years of training, courage, fitness and a never-give-up attitude. You have to swim some of it in the dark, cope with the wind, tides, swells, jellyfish and possibly sea-sickness when you are close to physical and mental exhaustion. You can't touch the support boat and are burning calories faster than you can take them in. Most failed attempts come through people running out of stamina - physical or mental.
So, we offer our heartfelt congratulations to Anna Doubell for successfully completing her English Channel swim! An incredible achievement. Anna swam the channel in 12 hours and 24 minutes.
Anna has also raised A$8,444 (at time of writing) for AMF that will fund 3,131 long-lasting insecticidal nets that will protect 5,600 people when they sleep at night from the bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes that would otherwise cause severe illness, or worse. These nets can be expected to save the lives of two people and prevent several thousand cases of malaria.
Anna, a huge well done - and thank you.
PS: If you’d like to understand a little of what it takes to be a Channel Swimmer, watch this.
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Our Financial Year has just ended and, as part of our commitment to efficiency, our annual accounts have been generated and are available to view on our Easier-to-understand accounts page.
We are able to show our pre-audit numbers within a few hours of the end of our financial year due to the level of automation of our financial systems which brings a number of benefits:
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Accurate management information - On any aspect of our finances at any time
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Improved transparency - For management, governance and audit purposes
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Improved efficiency - Minimal administrative input to prepare the accounts at year end (data is entered most working days during the year)
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Swift production of our annual accounts - Within 24 hours of the FY end i.e. once the closing balances on our accounts are known the next day
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Assisting our auditors - Swift availability of our draft annual accounts to give our auditors maximum flexibility in scheduling their work
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Keeping stakeholders up to date – Providing donors, trustees and other stakeholders with timely information on our financial status and performance
A further benefit is we now have 'real-time' financials in our 'Easier-to-Understand' section of our financial information.
Note: We have posted this today, rather than on Monday 2nd July, as this year we have been completing other developments in our internal financial management system.
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AMF has signed an agreement with the Guinea Ministry of Health to fund 3.86 million nets for distribution from March to April 2019. This represents 45% of Guinea's long-lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) need for their 2019 universal coverage campaign and a financial contribution of 25% of the cost of the universal coverage campaign.
The nets will be distributed in all 20 prefectures of four of Guinea’s regions, specifically Boké, Faranah, Kankan and Nzérékoré.
In total, 6.9 million people will be protected when they sleep at night from the bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes – which would otherwise cause servere illness, or worse. Malaria is one of the primary health issues in Guinea, with high incidence levels seen across the majority of the country. These nets have the potential to play a major part in reducing deaths and illness.
AMF allocates individual donations to specific distributions and so far we have allocated 14,933 individual donations from 6,954 donors from 80 countries. These figures will increase as further donations are allocated. Many donations, large and small, help fund these nets.
We will report openly on progress and performance throughout and after the distribution.
Key elements of our agreement include:
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AMF is funding 3,860,000 LLINs for distribution in 2019 with the possibility of this rising to 5 million nets if registration data reliably indicates a higher population figure than that used in planning
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This is a co-funding partnership with non-net costs (shipping, pre-distribution, distribution) funded by the Global Fund and the President's Malaria Initiative
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'105%' data collection will be used for the household-level registration process to support accurate data gathering – 5% of households will be re-visited as a check on registration numbers
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AMF will collect household registration data from the entirety of a proportion of villages as an independent check on registration and population numbers
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Household-level data will be collected on paper and then entered into AMF's Data Entry System (DES) for analysis and verification
- The above elements combined are the basis for a highly accountable distribution
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Post-distribution monitoring of net use and condition (PDMs) will take place every six months for two and a half years in all four regions. AMF will fund this.
Further information
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