United Nations Foundation Continues Fight Against Malaria in Africa

New York – To honor the premiere of the major motion picture The Interpreter, the first movie filmed inside UN Headquarters, the UN Foundation today announced the donation of $50,000 to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF). The funds will be used to purchase insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent the spread of malaria in Africa.

“The United Nations plays a vital role in combating crises, like malaria, that cross borders and we will continue to support the invaluable programs of this international institution,” said Ted Turner, Chairman and Founder of the UN Foundation.

Every 30 seconds an African child dies from a malaria infection transmitted by a mosquito bite. Malaria can be prevented through a simple, inexpensive measure: sleeping each night under a net treated with insecticides that kill mosquitoes or stop them from biting. A long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net remains effective for up to five years and costs between $4.50 and $7.00. Despite this relatively low cost, most African families cannot afford them.

The prevention and treatment of malaria are vital to the achievement of several of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. Adopted in 2000 by 189 countries, the Goals provide a framework to improve overall human development. Goal Six calls for the reversal of the incidence of malaria by 2015, but achievement of the eight goals is most likely with a healthy population free of the burden of malaria.

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The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with businessman and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support United Nations’ causes. The UN Foundation promotes a more peaceful, prosperous, and just world through the support of the UN. Through its grant making and by building new and innovative public-private partnerships, the UN Foundation acts to meet the most pressing health, humanitarian, socioeconomic, and environmental challenges of the 21st century. (www.unfoundation.org)

The UN Foundation also supports UN Dispatch (www.undispatch.com), a blog intended to promote thoughtful and balanced discussion about the United Nations, and to provide an outlet for important, and often overlooked, news and views on the UN.