Taking Kicks Against Malaria
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Photos by Michael Stobe/Stobephotos
This weekend, I had the chance to represent Malaria No More and United Against Malaria—a new partnership of organizations, including ONE!, committed to fighting malaria—at the Nutmeg youth soccer tournament in Wilton, CT. On Sunday, Congressman Jim Himes (Connecticut-4), a member of the Congressional Malaria Caucus, joined 1,000 Connecticut kids to show his support for United Against Malaria.
While cheering on the youth players, Congressman Himes underscored the importance of supporting the ongoing fight against malaria, saying, “The chance to win a victory against malaria shows how we can reach ambitious goals both on the soccer field and in the global effort to improve health care worldwide.”
We couldn’t agree more! MNM had a great time hosting the United Against Malaria Speed Shot Contest, where players took time out from their team competition to test their individual skill, learn about malaria and help score against the disease! Families stopped by to donate a $10 lifesaving mosquito net and to learn more about United Against Malaria, and kids got the opportunity to take a shot and see how fast they could kick a soccer ball into a bed net goal. Winners in each age category received two tickets to a Major League Soccer game and United Against Malaria soccer jerseys.
Congressman Himes’s enthusiasm for the campaign was matched by the tournament organizers who saw the United Against Malaria campaign: “We are so proud to help raise awareness about malaria in the community and show our kids how they can help kids in Africa,” remarked Wilton Soccer Association President Andy Hoffman. “United Against Malaria shows just how important teamwork is to defeating malaria for once and for all.”
One thing was for sure: regardless of the final score, players at the Nutmeg tournament won a major victory against malaria. We hope that youth soccer players across the country will join us and the malaria community in standing United Against Malaria and help send malaria off the field for good!
-John Logsdon, Malaria No More
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June 16, 2009 at 1:44 pm
As a fan of soccer, it’s great to see that the excitement that will be building around the upcoming World Cup will also be directed toward doing something so good–beating malaria. I’m also interested in learning more about the Congressional Malaria Caucus. It really is so simple and relatively cheap to beat this disease. With just a more concerted and focused effort, we can eradicate deaths. I hope “United Against Malaria” helps us get there.
June 16, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Great to see so much passion and excitement in this space. Certainly incredible things going on.
I must ask though about the actual nets, though. I do hope they are being made in the areas they are being distributed (Africa mainly, I would assume). If not, then that is just going along the aid route, a route that we know doesn’t work.
We need to focus on sustainable trade and solutions, I do hope that is what ONE is advocating.
June 16, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Really cool to see a global health campaign tied to football–should reach a lot of people who may not be familiar with malaria all that well, but who follow football.
I also find it interesting that this campaign is taking place in African countries as well. From the United Against Malaria site, it says that the campaign not only raises awareness in rich countries of the need to fight malaria, but also “will work with governments to strengthen the political commitment to prioritize malaria control, and to increase consistent, appropriate utilization of prevention tools like bed nets and malaria treatment.”