19 September 2009
Boy Scouts Fight World Malaria
Posted by admin under: centennial; community service .
There’s another story at ScoutingNews.org about Boy Scouts of America teaming up to fight malaria by donating bed netting for use in countries where malaria still kills a million people per year.
The United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets, a grassroots campaign to prevent malaria by sending long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to families in Africa, announced today that the Boy Scouts of America has joined the malaria-prevention campaign as part of its 100th Anniversary Celebration. Throughout the year, Scouts from around the country will work within their communities to raise awareness about malaria, a leading killer in Africa.
BSA Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca and Nothing But Nets Director Adrianna Logalbo launched the life-saving partnership today during a malaria workshop at Detroit Edison Public School Academy. Bill Gates Sr., Distinguished Eagle Scout and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Honorable Dave Bing, Mayor of Detroit and Deron Washington of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, joined Mazzuca and Logalbo at the workshop to teach more than 65 local Scouts about malaria and how to help prevent the deadly disease.
“Every single day, in almost every community across the nation, Scouts are doing their part to make this world a better place by becoming good citizens. But our concern for others doesn’t stop at our borders. We are global citizens,” Mazzuca said. “Even during a challenging economic recession, it’s hard to imagine that nearly 3,000 people die every day from a preventable disease like malaria. We’re pleased to work with the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign to help make a positive difference for the children in Africa.”
I’m all in favor of supporting this cause. It reminds me of that Ashton Kutcher drive a while back where he was trying to get nets to help prevent malaria.
I just wish people would stop opposing the use of DDT so that we could save the lives of the tens of millions of Africans who perished because of the bad reputation the pesticide received. Even if it had some bad side affects I find it difficult to believe it would have been worse than allowing the population of several small cities to die from an almost completely preventable reason. Don’t take my word for it, though. Even the World Health Organization thinks so. Still nets will help. It’s unfortunate that it will still allow hundreds of thousands to die each year.
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