A Major Commitment to The Million Nets Pledge

We have incredible news from New York, as world leaders meet at the United Nations General Assembly!

We are excited to announce a major new partnership with Sumitomo Chemical Co., one of the largest global bednet manufacturers. Unveiled over the weekend at a special United Nations event, Sumitomo Chemical issued a matching grant challenge to our supporters to help protect one million vulnerable refugees from malaria with life-saving bednets. 

This means, every net you send to protect vulnerable refugees from malaria will be matched by Sumitomo Chemical to double your impact. 

Today, there are more than 50 million refugees and families displaced by violence around the world – and 60 percent of them live in areas where malaria is transmitted. Malaria is a major threat to refugees – it is a leading cause of illness and death in many African countries, including those where Nothing But Nets and our UN partners, UNICEF and the UN Refugee Agency, work. This year, we launched The Million Nets Pledge to protect refugee families from malaria with one million bednets by 2016. This ambitious two-year goal aims to raise $10 million to protect vulnerable people fleeing violence, particularly in Central Africa. 

The new partnership was recognized at an event on Saturday to support Every Woman Every Child, an unprecedented global movement launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in September 2010. Every Woman Every Child mobilizes and intensifies international and national action by governments, multilaterals, the private sector and civil society to address the major health challenges facing women and children around the world. 

Sumitomo Chemical created the world’s first long lasting insecticidal net (LLIN) – the Olyset® Net – to be recommended by the World Health Organization and is committed to protecting all vulnerable people from malaria as the world works towards the ultimate goal of malaria elimination.

Every 60 seconds, a child still dies from malaria. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to end this disease for good. 

Anyone can join The Million Nets Pledge and help to send one million nets to protect refugee families from malaria. Go to www.NothingButNets.net/MillionNetsPledge to take the pledge and help save lives.