Creating, collecting, and sharing thoughts and ideas. And learning along the way.
The sun will eclipse the brightest of street-lamps in the day, of course, but at night, I’ll bet these two lamps lined up on both sides of the street in the Tech Town area of the WSU campus in Midtown Detroit will offer more than ample light to pedestrians on the sidewalk. Note to LP: there’s your pole!
Holidays are occasions for grand productions in the kitchen so as to produce grand results on the table. The most recent holiday commonly known as Easter was the latest such occasion for one such production. But each production has a pièce de résistance, and in this case, it was dessert. And no ordinary dessert was this: it was a most decadent German Cheesecake made in the authentic style of no-crust and having cottage-cheese as a dominant ingredient. Plus, it was made from scratch with the most wholesome ingredients, no preservatives or artificial anything, thank you very much, and made with all the love we (i.e., my firstborn and I) could spare in an exercise of this magnitude!
And if you think all this is too divine and couldn’t get any better than that, well, it actually could– and did– thanks to the magnificent garnish of the freshest of fresh blueberries that we topped it with. Strawberries are so passe, we think, and so blueberries it was!
See for yourself what I mean!
In honor of World Malaria Day, observed every year on April 25 as a day of awareness and recognition for global efforts to end malaria, we challenge you to educate yourself on the facts, raise awareness, and take action against this deadly but preventable disease.
Malaria is a disease of massive proportions that disproportionately impacts children. Each year, approximately 780,000 people die from malaria, 85 percent of whom are children under 5. World Vision works in 62 countries affected by malaria, 23 of which are in Africa.
Impact on children and families
- Malaria is the 4th leading cause of death for children globally, and is a leading cause of death for children in sub-Saharan Africa.
- More than 1,800 children under 5 die each day from malaria. That’s approximately 1 child every 45 seconds.
- Half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria: There are 106 malaria-endemic countries with 3.3 billion people at risk. Malaria infects approximately 250 million people each year.
- Malaria has been estimated to cost Africa more than U.S. $12 billion every year in lost economic productivity, and can cost households as much as 32 percent of their entire monthly income.
- Insecticide-treated bed nets could prevent as many as 1 million deaths from all causes of malaria for children under 5.
Global malaria prevention
- If universal malaria prevention can be achieved by 2010 and maintained until 2015, an estimated 2.95 million African children’s lives can be saved.
- If current scale-up trends are maintained until 2015, 1.14 million African children’s lives can be saved.
- If funding ceases and prevention levels are allowed to fall, an estimated 476,000 additional children would die.
(Sources: World Health Organization, UNICEF, Malaria Journal, World Malaria Report)
Ways to take action against malaria
- Join World Vision ACT:S and RELEVANT Magazine in their campaign to end malaria by 2015.
- Ask your elected officials to prioritize funding for malaria programs. Use this easy online action form to send an email.
- Help provide insecticide-treated bed nets to save more children from the deadly bite of mosquitoes.
- Pray for the millions who live in the world’s malaria-prone regions, who remain at risk from this deadly disease. Pray for the collective will within the United States and internationally to eradicate this preventable, treatable disease once and for all.
Read more posts on the World Vision Blog about malaria.
