100M Mosquito Nets for Africa
10 July 2008
PM Gordon Brown yesterday secured the backing of the world’s most powerful countries for the scheme.
Last November, The Sun teamed up with hammer attack survivor Josie Russell and the Malaria No More charity to campaign to help end deaths from the disease.
More than a million Africans – including some 600,000 children – die each year from malaria, spread by mosquitoes.
But insecticide-treated bed nets which cost £5 each are a cheap and effective way to prevent the deaths.
Rwanda saw infection rates drop by more than 66 per cent with nets.
Announcing the agreement at the summit in Hokkaido , Japan , Mr. Brown said the nets will be sent by the end of 2010. The PM – who pledged in April £100million to fight malaria by buying 20million nets – promised to urge more world leaders to join the fight against the disease.
He said: “On the eve of this year’s G8 summit, I received a bed net from Josie Russell and a mandate from the public to fight for the children who will die this year from malaria”.
“The G8 has responded to our call in bold fashion with a commitment to provide 100million life-saving bed nets for Africa by the end of 2010.”
Josie, 21, last night said she was delighted by the pledge.
Josie – whose mum and sister were killed by Michael Stone in 1996 – has visited Nigeria twice with The Sun for her Nets For Josie campaign.
It has raised almost £50,000 to buy nets.
She said: “I’m so grateful to the G8. Congratulations to Gordon Brown and to the 100million African families that will sleep safely thanks to the nets.”
Malaria No More chief Scott Case added: “We owe this success largely to Gordon Brown and the support he received from Josie Russell and Sun readers.”
Peter Chernin, chairman of Malaria No More and president and chief operating officer of The Sun’s parent company News Corporation, said: “This is a major milestone in the effort to end the more than one million malaria deaths each year.
