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850,000 people annually die from a mosquito bite.

UNICEF calls for action to roll back Malaria on World Malaria Day

Around 850,000 people annually die from a mosquito bite. Nearly 90% of the malaria- affected people live in sub-Sahara Africa and it is a leading cause of death.  It is estimated that a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds in this area and the majority of those deaths are children under five years old.

Malaria is spread by the bite of an Anopheles mosquito. The disease will worsen rapidly especially in children, as they have very little immunity to resist it, causing coma and death.

UNICEF calls for action to roll back malaria to ensure universal coverage of malaria control interventions, to help save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Fighting malaria yields other benefits:

•    Reducing malaria reduces the burden in over-stretched health centers. •    Reducing malaria reduces the number of people who die of HIV and AIDS as malaria is a significant contributing cause to those deaths. •    Reducing malaria reduces the number of people who die of malnutrition as those already weakened from lack of food are more likely to die if they contract malaria. •    Reducing malaria improves the health of pregnant mothers and therefore improves the health of their babies.

Contributions to “Friends of UNICEF” Monthly Pledge will help save lives of children. For every donation of HKD$100, UNICEF will provide 2 insecticide-treated bed nets (ITN) for children to prevent from Malaria and to ensure that no one dies from a mosquito bite.