Six Million Lives

This is an exciting moment for us to reflect on the work we’ve done together with our partners and supporters to protect children, families, and refugees from malaria. We don’t often have time to reflect on our progress because there are so many who need our help fighting malaria in their communities.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently released the Millennium Development Goals progress report and we’ve cut deaths from malaria by 69 percent among children under age five in sub-Saharan Africa. Your support has contributed to global efforts to fight malaria, which have saved 6 million lives since 2000.

Thanks to you and our supporters all over the world, Nothing But Nets has been able to send more than 9 million life-saving nets to protect children and families. I can say without hesitation that those nets have helped millions of families stay free from this terrible disease, and, yes, have saved lives. The work that we are doing together matters, and it’s yielding tremendous results.

In my nearly 5 years leading this campaign, I’ve had the opportunity to visit the communities across sub-Saharan Africa where we distribute bednets and other life-saving malaria prevention and treatment tools. I can tell you that nothing is sadder, or more haunting, than seeing a young child dying from malaria in their parent’s arms and witnessing how this disease devastates families even though it’s entirely preventable. (As a parent of three young children it’s sometimes too much to comprehend.)

I will also tell you that nothing brings me greater joy than distributing these nets to children and families in communities where malaria is rampant. The gratitude that’s clearly evident on a mother and father’s face, knowing that they will be able to keep their family safe from this deadly disease, is remarkable. The hope that a refugee family expresses knowing that someone across the world is thinking about them is incredible. The only reason that many of these families have received nets is because of the generosity of you and other Nothing But Nets supporters.

Our 9 million nets and all of our advocacy work have made an incredible difference: fewer lives lost, fewer devastated families, and healthier, smiling faces sleeping safely under a net each night. As a part of the global community fighting malaria, we’ve helped save more than 6 million lives. This is one of the great success stories of our time.

However, the reality is that a child is still dying from this preventable disease every 60 seconds, and we will not give up this fight until we defeat malaria. We have the opportunity to accomplish this in our lifetime but only with your continued involvement in our campaign. For us, we do this one net at a time, thanks to you, and it all adds up to make a huge difference.

As we push forward to defeat one of the greatest killers in human history, we need your steadfast support.

Continue to contribute what you can to send nets and save lives. Use your voice to advocate for increased U.S. government funding for malaria prevention and treatment efforts, not just in sub-Saharan Africa but around the world. Get your family, friends, and community involved in this important endeavor.

On the other end of our work are children and families who are now able to live healthier, more productive lives. Please continue to do what you can to make a difference.

Thank you for the role you have played in helping to save more than 6 million lives. You can learn more about the progress made here.