Remember when [1] Rick Mercer and Belinda Stronach launched the Spread the Net (YouTube video) campaign? They wanted us to think of malaria but that seemed an exotic disease that happened to people far away. Well, it still is a disease that Canadians don’t worry about for the most part. Mosquitoes, for us, are an annoying part of summer, but they’re a deadly fact of life sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere in the world. It’s [2] World Malaria Day today. I encourage you stop by [3] [5] Spread the Net and make a donation to purchase a net for $10 or learn a bit from [4] Roll Back Malaria.

Here are a few malaria facts from [3] [5] Spread the Net:

*  Every 30 seconds a child dies of malaria.
*  Malaria is the single biggest killer of African children under the age of five and accounts for one in five of all childhood deaths in Africa.
*  Malaria in pregnant women can lead to low birth weight, anaemia and a greater risk of death to their newborn babies.