ReliefWeb

Saving lives is challenging work. But it’s being done today by those people and organizations working to prevent deaths from malaria. Mali is a large landlocked African country where around one million people get malaria each year. Malaria is one of the leading causes of child deaths in Mali. Projections indicate that as many as 74,000 people could die from malaria by 2015.

Saving 74,000 lives in Mali may seem like a large number to some and a small number to others. It’s inherently hard to conceptualize 74,000 lives. But those are lives that can thrive, be creative and productive; they are a part of families that can continue to experience the joy of being together - all because tools to prevent malaria and drugs to treat malaria exist today.

What if we could save those 74,000 lives, or even half of them? What would it mean to those families? What would it mean to you to have helped make it happen?

The possibility of succeeding in saving 74,000 lives in Mali, and greater numbers across Africa is a relatively recent development. Over the past few years, commitments by governments of both malaria endemic countries and countries where malaria has been eliminated, but where people recognize the global value of reducing deaths and disease, are making this progress possible. In the next few years, we all need to work to achieve the ambitious goal of saving three million lives globally.

This is only possible if we pursue and increase what has been successful in the past five years – bringing renewed attention, political commitment and funding to help children and families.

However, the challenge doesn’t stop in 2015. We have an even greater ambition in the long-term. There’s an even greater potential, ultimately, to end deaths and illness due to malaria by continuing and intensifying today’s efforts to control malaria through existing tools and investing in the development of new drugs, innovative ways to protect children and families from mosquitoes, and a malaria vaccine.

We don’t yet have all the answers about how to achieve the elimination and eventual eradication of malaria. We do know, however, that the involvement of all those who care about malaria today, as well as of new partners not yet engaged in malaria, will be necessary to reach this ambitious goal.

Take a look at this infographic. It provides a window into the future. It shows what can happen when we use the tools we already have to fight malaria. To me that is something worth fighting for.