RAM - Rotarians Against Malaria (RAWCS)
Subpages
Related Pages
Links
Files
Photo Albums
image

Rotarians Against Malaria in Australia (RAM) work to achieve the following objective:

"The prevention of mortality, and a reduction in morbidity and social and economic loss caused by malaria through a progressive improvement and strengthening of local and national capabilities in malaria control."

Malaria is one of the biggest killers in the world today, attacking some of our most vulnerable communities and contributing significantly to the untold suffering and sustained poverty of more than forty per cent (40%) of the world's population.

The malaria parasite is carried by the Anopheles mosquito which is a tough adversary.

Much funding worldwide has been provided for research into the development of vaccines and the establishment of malaria control programmes.

One of the best ways of preventing malaria is to avoid coming in contact with mosquitoes. This can be achieved by sleeping under a treated mosquito net. Treated bed nets have been shown to be over 70% effective in reducing the incidence of malaria in those areas in which they are able to be used.

Africa is the most endemic of malaria affected countries with 43 countries suffering illness and death. Some 350 million insecticide nets have been distributed over the past three years. Residual spraying is also proving effective. Some countries are reporting reductions of 50% in confirmed malaria cases.

In Papua New Guinea RAM has been working with health teams to survey the results of bed net distribution in the central provinces. 25,000 nets have been distributed ensuring that every person has been protection. This is to be a test case for the rest of PNG as early results are promising.

The University of Queensland has been given a grant from Bill Gates of $7m. to develop a vaccine for mosquitoes thus preventing them transferring viruses.

Email RotariansAgainstMalaria@rotarydistrict9685.org.au