Campaign Quarterly: October 2019

Welcome to the Campaign Quarterly Newsletter, a snapshot of our work at Nothing But Nets and the global movement to end malaria for good.

In this issue, the story of Ousmanou Danti, a 35-year old refugee from the Central African Republic, information on our new Global Health Fellowship, an update on what’s next for the Global Fund Replenishment, and the launch of The Safety Net!

Impact Spotlight: Ousmanou’s Story

Ousmanou Danti, a 35-year old refugee from the Central African Republic (CAR), says with a smile that none of her five children have visited the hospital lately for malaria. Mosquitoes are widespread at the Gado camp in east Cameroon, where she and her children seek refuge from violent conflict in CAR alongside 25,000 other compatriots.

But thanks to insecticide-treated bed nets, provided through a partnership between Nothing But Nets and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Ousmanou has peace of mind knowing her family is protected from mosquitoes when they’re inside their hut.

Fleeing violence in 2014, Ousmanou’s family was forced to wade through miles of forest and overcome multiple tropical diseases to reach Gado camp. Today, her joy comes from seeing her children – now aged 15, 14, 7, 4 and 1 – run off to school as she stays back to take care of her youngest child.

“I have been using nets since I came here in 2014 and each time one gets torn I try to replace it. I got these in 2018,” she adds proudly, as she plays with her youngest child on the bed.

Unburdened by malaria or other tropical diseases, Ousmanou can think more about her family’s future. “My wish is to have a small business in front of my door where I sell little provisions and don’t have to go away from home since I have more children,” she said.

Since 2007, Nothing But Nets has helped UNHCR protect over 13 million refugees and internally displaced persons in 26 countries through the distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, rapid diagnostic tests, and anti-malaria treatments. Nothing But Nets is currently working with UNHCR to provide malaria prevention and treatment to displaced populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Champion Spotlight: Introducing the Global Health Fellowship

To wipe out malaria worldwide within this generation, we need today’s students – the future malaria scientists, researchers, and advocates – to take ownership of this historic opportunity.

Nothing But Nets leads efforts in the US to galvanize young people around the global fight to end malaria. This Fall, we’re taking this nationwide student outreach to the next level by launching the Global Health Fellowship (GHF).

The GHF is creating a network of student advocates across American universities and high schools. The fellowship program will train and empower students to become effective malaria champions – both in their community and on Capitol Hill.

Turning their passion into action, GHF Fellows will launch campaigns on their campuses while also meeting with members of Congress to ensure strong US support for critical global malaria programs. The GHF will provide webinars and professional development opportunities to Fellows, culminating in Nothing But Nets’ annual Leadership Summit and Lobby Day on Capitol Hill (the next Summit will be March 8-10, 2020).

Through a competitive application process, Nothing But Nets recently selected its inaugural class of 10 GHF student groups, each receiving a $1,000 grant. The most successful group, based on an activity-based points system, will have the opportunity to take a summer learning trip with UN Foundation staff to a region in which Nothing But Nets works.

If you’d like to learn more about GHF, please contact Amma Boateng, Nothing But Nets’ Campaign Coordinator, at aboateng@unfoundation.org.

Global Fund Replenishment

The Global Fund – the world’s largest financier of malaria, AIDS, and TB prevention, treatment, and care programs – announced last week that it had raised enough funds to save over 16 million lives and avert over 200 million infections or disease cases.

The Global Fund runs a Replenishment campaign every three years, collecting pledges around the world from governments, corporations, and foundations. The stakes are enormous: hundreds of millions of people depend on Global Fund programming every year. The Global Fund announced last week at the Replenishment Conference in Lyon, France that it reached its $14 billion pledge target. This amount represents 15-20% of the total projected funding needed worldwide for AIDS, TB, and malaria programming from 2020-2022.

This pledge total also represents a 15% increase from Global Fund’s previous replenishment. The increased funding is critical to overcome recent setbacks and keep the world on track to ending these three epidemics within this generation. In the case of malaria, while more countries than ever are close to wiping out the disease, the highest-burden countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have seen progress stall.

Nothing But Nets shares The Global Fund’s commitment to prioritize these high-burden countries and communities. We recently launched multi-year malaria prevention projects in two of the world’s malaria-affected countries: Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The $14 billion global pledge was made possible by relentless advocacy campaigns around the world that pressed world leaders to step up the fight against these three deadly diseases. In the US, over 200 Nothing But Nets champions met with members of Congress to ensure strong bipartisan support for the Global Fund, as well as the President’s Malaria Initiative – another critical US funding mechanism for malaria programs.

The Safety Net Launch

Nothing But Nets is excited to announce the launch of “The Safety Net,” a community of monthly donors who are dedicated to protecting families from malaria year-round. The Safety Net members give a minimum of $10 a month (the cost of providing two life-saving bed nets) and receive exclusive membership benefits. These benefits include monthly campaign updates and stories from the field, and informational webinars about the latest in the fight against malaria. please consider becoming a Safety Net member and help us end malaria within your lifetime. For more information click here!