Each year, more than 225 million cases of malaria, killing around 781 000 people are reported, according to the World Health Organisation’s 2010 World Malaria Report. This accounts for 2.23% of deaths worldwide. 90% of malaria-related deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the majority of deaths are of young children in this region. Malaria is commonly associated with poverty and sadly, whilst uncomplicated to prevent, malaria continues to take many lives each year due to unfortunate economic climates in these economically fragile regions.
United Against Malaria (UAM) launched in 2009 as a campaign of anti-malaria partners who leveraged the popularity of football and public anticipation of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In addition, UAM African corporate partners have raised critical funds for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria through fan parks and the sale of UAM bracelets. Building on these successes, UAM continues to harness the popularity of football to bring diverse sectors to the fight against malaria with the international target of reducing Malaria deaths to zero by 2015.
In the past decade overall malaria deaths have dropped by almost 20% and many African countries have cut malaria cases by over 50%, saving the lives of 485 children every day. At the United Nations headquarters in New York recently, Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, together with Professor Coll-Seck, presented UAM African and multi-national corporate leaders, including Nando’s, Novartis, Pfizer and Standard Bank, amongst others, with a “Golden Boot” recognizing their contribution to the fight against malaria. In football, the “Golden Boot” is often awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a tournament.
Timeless Africa Safaris (Cape Town, South Africa) have joined in support of this most worthy cause since the World Cup and continue to support the United Against Malaria foundation by pledging a contribution on behalf of each of our guests visiting our beautiful continent. It is our hope that we can create a legacy for our visitors in this way, and do so in a meaningful and positive way.