Wear a Net to School

UJIA's social responsibility department and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation's Faiths Act Fellows in North London are teaming up to bring you 'Wear a Net to School'. On the Friday before or the Monday after World Malaria Day (23 or 26 April 2010), we want students to wear a net to school to:

• Raise awareness among students about the impact malaria has on children in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide
• Raise funds for efforts to eradicate malaria
• Allow children to have fun by designing their own net costume - using hairnets, netting on fruit, fishing nets...

We will be marking World Malaria Day 2010 to highlight the impact that malaria has on communities across the world. The mosquito-borne disease kills nearly one million people each year. Most of its victims are children under the age of five and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa.

As well as raising funds to tackle the disease, 'Wear a Net to School' will also have a considerable educational element and we will be available to help arrange presentations and workshops. We will be available to come in for workshops on the day (23 or 26 April 2010) for the first schools to sign up.

Resources will also be made available to teachers, including topic cards to prompt discussions about malaria and the role that faith communities can play in eradicating the disease. A short video, 'The Story of a Bednet,' is also available.

Why wear a net?

Impregnated bednets are an important tool in reversing the spread of malaria because it is during the night that mosquitoes bite and transmit the malaria parasite.

Just five pounds can pay for a bednet, its transportation and distribution to those who need it, as well as education on how to use and take care of the bnet.

So wear a net, buy a net, save a life!

All money raised will be given directly to Project Muso Ladamunen, a grassroots NGO based in the community of Bamako, Mali. Project Muso aims to fight malaria in Mali by empowering women to improve the health of their family and community.

2010 is the year of the first UN target: to achieve universal coverage of bednets by December 2010. We need your school to help us ensure that this target is achieved!

E-mail Wear a Net to School to find out more and to get involved.