World Malaria Day...

Even though I am on vacation, away from Sierra Leone, away from the clinic, away from malaria, I do want to take the time to recognize World Malaria Day.

Malaria:
- a disease I diagnose every day when I am working in the clinic
- the disease that has taken the lives of some of the children that I have cared for.
- contracted by up to 1/2 billion people per year.
- killing more than 1 million people per year, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa.
- the leading cause of death in African children under 5; killing a child every 30 seconds
- claims more lives in Sierra Leone than HIV/AIDS
- breeds poverty and underdevelopment in vast regions of the world
- IS preventable and treatable.

This year’s theme - Malaria: A disease without borders - emphasizes the need for global collaboration in the fight against malaria including the need for cross border strategies, well documented strategies and coordinated actions at both international and local levels.

How can you help FIGHT MALARIA???