Imagine No Malaria is an effort of the people of The United Methodist Church to raise $75 million to eliminate death and suffering from malaria in Africa by 2015. This comprehensive approach to beating malaria through prevention, education, communication and treatment.
We will engage the passion of 11.5 million United Methodists worldwide to empower an entire continent to achieve a sustainable victory over malaria.
We are making a difference. Today a child dies every 45 seconds from malaria; just a short time ago, it was every 30 seconds. The clock is slowing down. The number of deaths per year has dropped from 1 million to 800,000.
While malaria has largely been eradicated in the U.S., between 350 million and 500 million people are still infected each year, mostly in Africa.
Malaria is a disease of poverty. It severely affects those who cannot afford treatment or have limited access to health care, leading to a detrimental effect on attendance at workplaces and schools.
Malaria is both preventable and treatable. There is currently a plan to eliminate malaria in our lifetime.
Insecticide-treated mosquito nets are a simple, cost-effective way to prevent malaria, but nets are only part of the solution. To overcome malaria, we must continue to support the most effective prevention methods, while also improving education about the disease, establishing community-based malaria-control programs, conducting communications outreach through radio, and revitalizing hospitals and clinics to improve treatment across the African continent.
Our efforts are more effective and sustainable when we work collaboratively with the international community. Imagine No Malaria is working closely with our partners to leverage and maximize available resources toward a sustainable solution.
Global health is a major focus for The United Methodist Church, which has more than 11.5 million members internationally and is in mission in more than 125 countries. For more than 160 years the denomination has been a key player in the fight against malaria, operating hospitals, clinics and mission centers across Africa.
Social holiness has always been a hallmark of who we are as United Methodists. John Wesley encouraged his followers to live like Jesus—to reach out to those on the fringes of society, heal them and send them back into their community for a greater good.
We are in this fight, and we will win it. We will save millions of children’s lives, making sure these smiling faces see a bright future.
For more information on what First United Methodist Church is doing, please email Pastor David. For more information on the program and the actions the Conference is taking, please click here.
