Imagine No Malaria
Arkansas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church
The Arkansas Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church includes 697 churches and 138,000 members. Bishop Charles N. Crutchfield, who was appointed to serve in Arkansas in 2004, leads the conference. The conference is composed of nine districts (Central, North Central, Northwest, North, Northeast, South Central, Southeast, Southwest, and West). A superintendent is appointed to each district. Arkansas United Methodist churches are served by 268 ordained elders, 22 ordained deacons, and 173 full- and part-time local pastors.
In the Arkansas Conference, individuals and churches have given enough money to distribute more than 24,500 bed nets to malaria-affected areas in Africa—and that only takes into account the donations sent through the Conference office. But, as Bishop Crutchfield wrote in his March 2011 column (http://www.arumc.org/n_an_occasional_word_from_the_bishop_march_4_2011.php), there’s more work yet to do. That’s why The United Methodist Church has launched Imagine No Malaria—to push forward with the effort to eradicate a disease that claims the life of someone’s child, parent, or sibling every 45 seconds.
Project Information
Imagine No Malaria
Imagine No Malaria is an effort of The United Methodist Church, through donations made through The Advance, to eliminate malaria deaths in Africa by 2015, delivering resources that empower the people of Africa to beat a disease that kills a child every 45 seconds.
We plan to achieve a sustainable outcome over malaria by improving prevention methods and education about the disease, establishing community-based malaria control programs, and revitalizing hospitals and clinics throughout the continent.
We start with understanding prevention. Prevention begins with improving the ways people fight the disease locally:
- By using bed nets;
- By accessing diagnostic tests and medicine.
Imagine No Malaria helps people understand the importance of draining standing water and improving sanitation. Every person can take steps to prevent malaria deaths, from protective measures to taking swift action when malaria symptoms begin.
Treatment of malaria’s consequences is dependent upon improving infrastructure. There are literally hundreds of churches, schools, hospitals, and clinics operated by The United Methodist Church in Africa, but they can only be effective if medicines to treat malaria are made available. Imagine No Malaria makes sure these facilities have the diagnostic tests and treatments needed to save lives.
Educating about malaria helps those who need it most. Last year alone, Imagine No Malaria trained thousands of local people in African communities to teach their neighbors about avoiding the disease. In Sierra Leone, these workers went door-to-door to deliver bed nets, install them in homes, and teach folks how to properly use and care for the nets.
The bite of malaria doesn’t have to kill. You can support our efforts to stop it!
Imagine No Malaria, UMCOR Advance #3021190
Learn more at www.imaginenomalaria.org
Quick Facts
- Malaria is caused by the plasmodium parasite, spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes. If not treated promptly with effective medicines, malaria often is fatal.
- Every 45 seconds a child in Africa dies of malaria.
- Malaria kills more than one million people each year. Ninety percent of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Malaria’s symptoms include fever, chills, vomiting, severe pain, convulsions, and death.
- Malaria is a completely preventable and treatable disease.
- Prior to 1951, Malaria was a serious public health problem in the United States. A comprehensive effort from 1947 to 1951 virtually eradicated malaria in this country.
- Malaria is a disease of poverty. It severely impacts those who cannot afford treatment or have limited access to healthcare, leading to a detrimental effect on attendance at workplaces and schools.
- Malaria rates in parts of Africa are on the decline: after increasing net coverage and access to medication, the under-five mortality rate in Rwanda dropped by 66 percent in two years. In Eritrea, the overall morbidity rate decreased by 80 percent in just four years using similar methods.
- Aggressive efforts in several African nations have dramatically reduced malaria death rates. The CDC has recently listed Rwanda in the “pre-elimination stage” and South Africa as malaria-free.
5200 People Support This Project.
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