In a few weeks, actress Nia Long and her son Massai Dorsey Jr. will travel to Tanzania to support the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign in its global fight against malaria. They will visit one of the world’s largest refugee camps to see the impact of malaria firsthand, meet with refugee families, and distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets that help keep families safe from the disease. They will also meet with officials from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to learn about the UN’s humanitarian work.
“Malaria is a truly devastating disease and one that has personally affected my family,” said Long. “When I learned that a child dies every two minutes from this disease, I had to find a way I could help. As a mother of two boys, I know that parenthood is a universal experience – no matter where we live, or who we are, we all want our children to be safe and healthy. I’m partnering with Nothing But Nets to ensure no mother or father has to worry about protecting their children from this deadly, yet preventable disease.”
Nothing But Nets is the world’s largest grassroots campaign working to protect vulnerable families from malaria. At this refugee camp, like many others, malaria is the single deadliest disease, affecting primarily pregnant women and children under the age of five. The campaign works to protect refugee families here and across Africa with comprehensive malaria intervention including bed nets, diagnostics, and treatment.
“Malaria strikes an astounding number of refugees, but we have the ability to prevent it,” said Margaret Reilly McDonnell, Director of Nothing But Nets. “A simple bed net can help protect mothers and children – and we’re so grateful to Nia for helping us raise awareness and inspire more people around the world to help us end this disease once and for all.”
Nothing But Nets has partnered with UNHCR since 2008 to provide vulnerable refugee families fleeing conflict or natural disasters with insecticide-treated mosquito nets that can keep them safe from malaria. The partnership has enabled UNHCR to provide almost 2 million bed nets to refugees living in camps across Africa.
Since 2006, Nothing But Nets has raised more than $60 million from hundreds of thousands of grassroots supporters, and delivered more than 10 million bed nets and other malaria prevention and treatment to families in 31 countries around the world. Anyone—from students to superstars to CEOs—can help protect families from malaria. To help Nia Long save lives, visit www.NothingButNets.net/nia.
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Contact
Rachel Henderson
Communications Manager, Nothing But Nets
570.259.2205
About Nothing But Nets
Nothing But Nets is the world’s largest grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a disease which claims the life of a child every two minutes. Inspired by sports columnist Rick Reilly, hundreds of thousands of people have joined the campaign that was created by the United Nations Foundation in 2006. Nothing But Nets has raised over $60 million to help deliver ten million bed nets to families in need, along with other crucial malaria interventions. In addition to raising funds for its UN partners, Nothing But Nets raises awareness and voices to advocate for critical malaria funding for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It only costs $10 to help save lives from this deadly disease. Visit www.NothingButNets.net to defeat malaria.
About The United Nations Foundation
The United Nations Foundation builds public-private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and broadens support for the United Nations through advocacy and public outreach. Through innovative campaigns and initiatives, the Foundation connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The Foundation was created in 1998 as a U.S. public charity by entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner and now is supported by philanthropic, corporate, government, and individual donors. Learn more at: www.unfoundation.org.
About Nia Long
Since making her feature film debut in Boyz N the Hood, actress Nia Long has gone on to star in more than 50 movies and television shows. Some of her notable film credits include Friday (1995), Soul Food (1997), love jones (1997), The Best Man (1999), Boiler Room (2000), Big Momma’s House (2000), Alfie (2004), Are We There Yet? (2005), Big Momma’s House 2 (2006), The Best Man Holiday (2013) and Keanu (2016). She just wrapped filming the Sony feature Life in a Year and had two films at Sundance this year, ROXANNE ROXANNE and the indie ensemble LEMON. Nia is also the ambassador for the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign – a global, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in sub-Saharan Africa.
© United to Beat Malaria. 2024 • Save Lives, Beat Malaria
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