Rotary International (+ Interact & Rotoract)
Rotary is delighted to be involved with World Swim Against Malaria.
We have a long history of helping in the fight against world diseases. For 20 years
Rotary have mobilised the fundraising activities of our now 1.2 million members
to combat polio. We are proud to have raised more than US$600m. In 1988 there were
350,000 cases worldwide; in 2003 there were 1,000 cases, a 99% reduction. We have
not yet beaten polio but we are close, and our efforts will continue until it is
eradicated.
Many don't know that malaria kills more than 1.5 million people a year. It is the
worst single killer of children under 5.
It is shocking to think that one child under 5 dies of malaria in Africa every 30
seconds. That's the time it takes you to read this. What's more, these deaths can
be avoided.
We know quite a bit about malaria through a number of initiatives, including our
REMIT programme, Rotarians for the Elimination of Malaria in Tanzania. We would
like many more people to know more about this potentially fatal disease.
So we applaud this initiative of trying to get a million people to swim and Rotarians
will play our part. We will have at least 5,000 swimming and raising money and,
we hope, many more.