By J. Samia Mair
On September 5, United For Change hosted its inaugural event United Against Malaria, One Body : One Goal.Part 1 of this series of articles spoke generally about this inspiring event. In this Part 2, the insights of Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, one of the speakers, are highlighted.
At the event, Sister Saleemah received the first United For Change Award For Excellence in Human Service, along with another co-recipient. Among her many achievements (e.g. author, activist), Sister Saleemah is the faith-based programmer for Malaria No More, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, formed to advance the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (see below).
Malaria No More describes itself as “a uniquely entrepreneurial organization” involved with funding, grassroots work, advocacy, and implementation. According to its website,
Malaria No More was born of a simple, startling insight: that ending malaria’s death grip on Africa is the best humanitarian investment we can make in the world today.Nothing else can have the same impact on as many people’s lives and livelihoods as quickly or cheaply.
During her speech, Sister Saleemah described eradicating malaria as the low-hanging fruit of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals.
The” low-hanging fruit” is an expression that means to select the easiest targets with the least amount of effort. Fruit trees often have low branches that make its fruit easy to reach. The fruit on the lower branches may not be as ripe or as attractive as the fruit on higher branches, but it is much easier to harvest.
According to Sister Saleemah, malaria eradication efforts represent the low-hanging fruit because they impact each of the 8 Millennium Development Goals and provide the biggest opportunity to save lives.
The UN has described the Millennium Development Goals as follows:
Nine years ago, world leaders set far-sighted goals to free a major portion of humanity from the shackles of extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease. They established targets for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women, environmental sustainability and a global partnership for development. In short, they adopted a blueprint for a better world – and pledged to spare no effort in fulfilling that vision.
The 8 goals are: (1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (2) Achieve universal primary education; (3) Promote gender equality and empower women; (4) Reduce child mortality; (5) Improve maternal health; (6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other disease; (7) Ensure environmental sustainability; and (8) Develop a global partnership for development.
The target date for most of the goals is 2015. Unfortunately, according to a 2009 progress report, the unprecedented worldwide economic crisis threatens the accomplishment of these goals, as well as the potential devastating effects of climate change.
Unlike some of the other goals, however, much progress has been made with respect to eradicating malaria. Target 3 of Goal 6 (Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other disease) states “Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.”
Malaria is called a disease of poverty because infection and death rates are disproportionately concentrated in the least developed countries. About one million people die of malaria each year and 95% of them, mostly children, live in sub-Sahara Africa. Several factors make the risk of dying from malaria much higher in this region including: the abundance of a more lethal malaria parasite, more intense disease transmission, and weak healthcare systems.
According to the progress report, “major progress has been made in the fight against malaria in recent years, due in large part to increased funding and focus on malaria control. “ In fact, a 2008 Roll Back Malaria Global Action Plan, challenged countries to achieve universal coverage with key interventions by 2010.
Why does eradicating malaria affect the other goals? For example, the target with respect to Goal 4(Reduce child mortality) is to reduce the under age 5 child mortality rate by 2/3 between 1990 and 2015. Although there has been progress in this regard for developing regions as a whole, many countries, including sub-Sahara Africa, have made little or no progress.
In fact, sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 1/2 of all deaths among children under the age of 5. Nevertheless, according to the progress report, there have been “remarkable improvements in several key child-survival interventions that are expected to yield further declines in under-five mortality over the next few years,” including the use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria. Thus, efforts to reduce new cases of malaria and deaths associated with the disease have a direct impact on this goal as well.
Sister Saleemah shared her parents’ wise advice, “to be a good Muslim you need to serve humanity.”Each of us can do our part to serve humanity this blessed month of Ramadan by contributing as little as $10 to Islamic Relief’s Bite the Bug campaign.