[Andy Chalk]

Deliver the Net To Fight Malaria in Africa

The "Nothing But Nets" [http://www.un.org/] campaign against malaria in Africa.

The game challenges players to hop a motorcycle and deliver as many mosquito nets as possible to African families before the sun sets. A sponsor fund of $200,000 has been set up to donate bed nets on behalf of gamers who sign up after finishing a round of the game. $10 contributions to buy and distribute bed nets are also being accepted at the site.

While not likely the best game you'll ever play in your life (or even today), Deliver the Net highlights the persistent and growing problem of malaria in many African nations. According to the Nothing But Nets website, more than 500 million people are infected with malaria every year, and more than one million die as a result. Many regions in Africa lack the resources to effectively combat the disease, which is a leading killer of children and is also estimated to cost the continent roughly $12 billion annually in lost productivity.

The $200,000 bed net sponsor fund donation is valid until World Malaria Day on April 25. To try your hand at Deliver the Net and learn more about the Nothing But Nets anti-malaria campaign, go to www.nothingbutnets.net [http://www.nothingbutnets.net].


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[Watershed]

Nets are one of the most effective ways to prevent malaria transmission, are much cheaper than drugs and could save many lives... It's not a great game but give it a go and make sure you send a net.

 

[Andy Chalk]

It's not a great game

Yeah, kinda like how Robert Mugabe is not a great champion of the democratic process.

But you're right, in this case the game is secondary to the cause. Malaria is a largely forgotten disease in the Western world but remains one of the most devastating plagues on the planet. One of the great tragedies of malaria is that in comparison to many illnesses, its transmission can be dramatically curtailed through the simplest of means - mosquito nets treated with insecticide - but what should be a relatively simple proposition for a world as wealthy and advanced as ours remains frustratingly elusive. Lack of education, violence and corruption are all factors beyond our control, but possibly the biggest one of all - Western ignorance and indifference - we can absolutely do something about. It's two minutes of asstastic gameplay to make a difference in someone's life. What's not to like?

 

[sammyfreak]

Malygris spamming? What has the world come to.

For Africa!

 

[Melaisis]

It's not a great game

Yeah, kinda like how Robert Mugabe is not a great champion of the democratic process.

I love you.

Anyway, why give nets out to people? I'm sure they'll just use it to capture young potential to use in armed militas? Anyway, isn't the cure for malaria a lot cheaper than the prevention?

 

[Watershed]

Anyway, why give nets out to people? I'm sure they'll just use it to capture young potential to use in armed militas? Anyway, isn't the cure for malaria a lot cheaper than the prevention?

Last year, I went to a malaria affected area and had to take a drug called malarone to prevent malaria infection. The cost was over £120 for enough to last me a month, the side effects weren't nice and I had to take one a day. Buying a net was much cheaper.

Not only is the cost a factor, but most models of disease dynamics have found that the preventative measures, such as bed nets, are much more effective than curative measures. Halving the biting rate of the vector reduces the Ro (Number of secondary infections created by one primary infection in a susceptible population)by a factor of four. Finally a drug is not guaranteed to affect all types of plasmodium species, while a net will keep out the mosquito vector.

Sorry, my dissertation topic at uni is the effect of climate change on vector-borne diseases, so I know too much about this topic

 

[Melaisis]

Anyway, why give nets out to people? I'm sure they'll just use it to capture young potential to use in armed militas? Anyway, isn't the cure for malaria a lot cheaper than the prevention?

Last year, I went to a malaria affected area and had to take a drug called malarone to prevent malaria infection. The cost was over £120 for enough to last me a month, the side effects weren't nice and I had to take one a day. Buying a net was much cheaper.

Not only is the cost a factor, but most models of disease dynamics have found that the preventative measures, such as bed nets, are much more effective than curative measures. Halving the biting rate of the vector reduces the Ro (Number of secondary infections created by one primary infection in a susceptible population)by a factor of four. Finally a drug is not guaranteed to affect all types of plasmodium species, while a net will keep out the mosquito vector.

Sorry, my dissertation topic at uni is the effect of climate change on vector-borne diseases, so I know too much about this topic

Ah. Thanks Red, actually. Its good to know.

 

[stompy]

Well, I hope it helps those youngins'. They have enough problems as it is.

Oh, and Mugabe, for a lack of better wording, is a bastard. Not only is not going, even when the voters have voted him out, but he's imprisoning vote counters, because they 'didn't tally up the votes properly'.

- A procrastinator