Though preventable and treatable, malaria claims the lives of more than 1 million people each year ? 75 percent of them African children.
Yet children in American schools have likely never heard of the disease that kills an African child every 30 seconds, or the role science plays in alleviating one of the world?s most pressing health care crises.
In conjunction with Malaria Awareness Day on April 25, Abbott Fund joins Mrs. Laura Bush, Malaria No More and Scholastic in the launch of a new nationwide education program that will raise awareness about malaria as well as encourage science education among elementary school students. The program will reach nearly 6 million American children and their families.
Funded by a $1 million grant from Abbott Fund, innovative malaria education materials are being distributed to virtually all elementary schools in the United States by Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books. Materials include a book for first-graders entitled Nets Are Nice, and curriculum for first-, fifth- and sixth-graders that address the impact of malaria and challenges faced by children in other countries.
The book for first-graders includes a forward by Mrs. Laura Bush, who said, “Nets Are Nice offers an opportunity to engage the energy, creativity and compassion of children, and to make them aware of ways they can help others who are in need.”
The Abbott Fund-sponsored program was announced in Washington last year at the White House Summit on Malaria by the President and Mrs. Bush. The White House Summit highlighted education as one of the several ways to combat the disease. The new education materials are available in time for the first Malaria Awareness Day in the United States.
The easy-to-use lessons, activities and family pages that address real-world issues are available for free online at www.scholastic.com/makeyourmark. Families can download Nets Are Nice as well as a short magazine for fifth- and sixth- grade students filled with stories about ordinary kids making an extraordinary difference in the world by addressing problems with creativity and energy.
“Not only does this new education initiative provide an opportunity to raise awareness among American school children about the health challenges faced by children in other countries, but it highlights the importance of science education and the role science plays in fighting disease,” said Catherine Babington, president, Abbott Fund, the philanthropic foundation of Abbott, the global health care company.
In addition to encouraging students and their families to learn more about malaria through this new education initiative, Abbott scientists are also visiting elementary schools to discuss Malaria Awareness Day and the impact of the disease.