On Nothing But Nets’ 5-Year Anniversary, UN Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner Thanks Partners, Calls for Renewed Action in the Fight Against Malaria

On the 5-year anniversary of the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign, UN Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner released the following statement:

“On November 14, the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign commemorates its fifth anniversary and celebrates the significant progress made in the fight against malaria.

In five years, Nothing But Nets has made history by bringing together the world’s largest grassroots network of partners and supporters to protect families in Africa from malaria. Hundreds of thousands of people have helped Nothing But Nets send more than 6 million insecticide-treated nets through our United Nations partners, protecting families in more than 25 African countries from malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Together, we’re pushing back the clock on malaria. Just two years ago, malaria killed a child in Africa every 30 seconds; now, with the help of bed nets and other prevention and treatment tools, we’ve helped push that statistic to 45 seconds.

Malaria is causing fewer deaths than ever, however we need to keep working to end deaths from this preventable and treatable disease. Half of the world’s population is still at risk, but simple solutions like bed nets are protecting millions of families every night. If we keep up this momentum and continue working together, we can reach the global goal of ending deaths from malaria by 2015.

Anyone can join us in the fight against malaria. I encourage you to help us continue to send nets and save lives. Take action at www.NothingButNets.net.”

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About Nothing But Nets
Nothing But Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in Africa. 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. Campaign partners include the National Basketball Association’s NBA Cares, The people of The United Methodist Church, and Major League Soccer’s MLS W.O.R.K.S. It only costs $10 to provide an insecticide-treated bed net that can prevent this deadly disease. Visit www.NothingButNets.net to send a net and save a life.

About the United Nations Foundation 
The United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities.  We build and implement public/private partnerships to address the world’s most pressing problems, and work to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach.  Through our campaigns and partnerships, we connect people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems.  These campaigns focus on reducing child mortality, empowering women and girls, creating a new energy future, securing peace and human rights, and promoting technology innovation to improve health outcomes.  These solutions are helping the UN advance the eight global targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org