World Malaria Day 2008

April 25, 2008 marked the first ever World Malaria Day. The United Nations Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign teamed up with millions of Americans, the UN, and our partners to take action and help cover a continent with bed nets. It's never been easier to send nets and save lives.

On World Malaria Day, Nothing But Nets celebrated the global effort to prevent malaria and nearly $20 million dollars raised with several events in New York City:

Rick Reilly and the Nothing But Nets teamed up with college students to create awesome posters for two teams to hit the streets and appear on "The Today Show" and "The Early Show" on WMD;
MTV Studios hosted a fun reception where our donors and partners got to meet each other and spend time with the Nothing But Nets mosquito mascot;
Nothing But Nets, Malaria No More and Children for Children hosted a youth event to educate kids about malaria and we gave the participants a chance to test their knowledge with skits;
Chairman Ted Turner, Rick Reilly and the mosquito rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange

As always, YOU were the ones who made it happen by joining our NETwork and getting the word out about malaria. Check out some of the events and activities we had going on leading up to World Malaria Day this year:

•CITY TOURS: Nothing But Nets visited Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Denver, the Twin Cities and the Detroit area over the last year before culminating World Malaria Day in New York City. We worked with our partners to host fundraising events, in-stadium and in-arena nights, and tons of other cool events to help spread the world and get people involved with Nothing But Nets.

•DELIVER THE NET: Nothing But Nets and the UN Foundation launched our new online game for people to deliver virtual bed nets to African villagers, and our generous sponsors helped out by sending actual bed nets on behalf of game players.

•NETS CHALLENGES: Nets are an important part of many sports –basketball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, hockey and many more. Nets are also an important part of preventing malaria. Nearly 350 people around the country grabbed their friends, family, neighbors, and classmates and organized sports and non-sports challenges to raise awareness and funds for WMD. The events included everything from bake sales to billiards and basketball to movie outings. Did you host a NETS Challenge? If so, send us an email and tell us what you did!

•CAMPUS REPRESENTATIVES: Undergraduate and graduate students on college campuses signed up to send nets and save lives by becoming a World Malaria Day Campus Representative. If you're interested in becoming a campus rep for next year's World Malaria Day, sign-up now! Click here to find out more information about what it means to be a Campus Rep and how you can get involved.

What's the secret behind the success of the Nothing But Nets campaign? It's YOU! Thanks to your commitment to eliminating malaria, together we've saved millions of lives – and together, we can cover a continent.