PowerPoint Presentation for Congregations Slide 1: ELCA Malaria Campaign: Making Malaria History Introduce yourself, explain that you are giving a presentation on behalf of the ________ Synod and the ELCA Malaria Campaign. Slide 2: Rebuke the Fever! There’s a Bible passage that we fi nd very relevant to the global issue of malaria. It’s in Luke, chapter 4. “Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus about her. Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.” This is a case of a woman who may well have been suffering from malaria. Jesus’ response was to rebuke to fever, and we can join him in rebuking the fever caused by malaria! Slide 3: The Facts of Malaria Malaria is a devastating disease that affects people in many parts of the developing world. • Every 45 seconds, a child dies of malaria. Most of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria is the most destructive and the most fatal. • But fully half of the world’s population — 3.3 billion people — lives in an area where malaria is prevalent. • Every year, nearly 250 million cases of malaria are reported, • And nearly 800,000 cases result in death. There’s some hopeful news here — even just a few years ago, more than 1,000,000 cases of malaria every year were fatal. But this good news is tempered by the 800,000 deaths that still occur every year — and that’s 800,000 too many. Slide 4: The Faces of Malaria • Those at the greatest risk of contracting malaria are children, pregnant women and new moth- ers, because their immune systems are impaired or not fully developed. • Malaria is a disease of poverty. Those living in poverty have fewer resources to prevent malaria, or to treat it if it occurs. • People living with the lowered immunity that comes with HIV and AIDS are more susceptible to the destructive impact of malaria. Working through Lutheran churches in Africa, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is uniquely positioned to provide mos- quito nets, insecticides, medication, health care, education and more to eliminate deaths from this disease — for good. P .O. Box 71764 • Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764 www.elca.org/malaria www.facebook.com/Lutherans 800-638-3522
• People who live in Africa are most likely to die when they contract malaria. This is due to the virulent strains of malaria present there, and also to the high rates of poverty, disease and HIV and AIDS. Slide 5: The Costs of Malaria Let’s take a look at the toll that malaria takes on families, many of whom already live in poverty. • When a family member develops malaria, the family must pay to travel to the clinic and pay for treatment from a health professional. • If a family tries to be proactive and prevent malaria, those prevention methods also cost money. • Adults lose days of productivity at work, and children lose days of productivity at school. All in all, experts estimate that about $12 billion dollars’ worth of lost productivity every year can be attributed to the effects of malaria. • We can see that malaria causes not only a loss of life, but a loss of hope for those affected. Slide 6: The Transmission of Malaria Let’s learn a little bit about the disease itself — how it is contracted, how it spreads, and what it does to the human body. • Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium . Plasmodium requires two different hosts in order to complete its life cycle: mosquitoes and hu- • mans. • The Plasmodium parasite is carried only by a certain type of mosquito, the Anopheles . Only female mosquitoes suck blood, and therefore only female mosquitoes can transmit malaria to humans. • Once inside a human body, the parasite reproduces, causing extensive damage to the liver and red blood cells. Slide 7: The Symptoms of Malaria Early symptoms of malaria include: • High fever, chills, nausea and vomiting, headaches, body aches and fatigue. • If left untreated, malaria can become much worse. It can lead to: Working through Lutheran churches in Africa, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is uniquely positioned to provide mos- quito nets, insecticides, medication, health care, education and more to eliminate deaths from this disease — for good. P .O. Box 71764 • Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764 www.elca.org/malaria www.facebook.com/Lutherans 800-638-3522
• Seizures, respiratory distress, anemia, organ failure, coma caused when the malaria parasite travels to the brain, and death. Slide 8: The ELCA Malaria Campaign You might be thinking, “OK, well, malaria sounds like a pretty bad problem in Africa. But why should we make it our problem?” There are a few different answers for that. • First of all, we’re making malaria our problem because we’re following Jesus’ call. He rebuked the fever of Peter’s mother-in-law, and he told all of us to take care of one another. When one member of the body of Christ is suffering from malaria, we all suffer. • Another reason is because of our companions. For many years, the ELCA has been strengthen- ing its relationship with Lutheran churches in Africa, and those churches have been serving the people in their areas. Now, together, we have a chance to leverage those service infrastructures to work together to prevent and treat malaria. • And really, now is the time. This is a historical moment in time, with the Millennium Development Goals in full swing, and celebrities, organizations and governments getting behind malaria ef- forts in a big way. In this generation, we’re going to see a dramatic decrease in malaria deaths, and a dramatic increase in global health. And the ELCA will be a part of making malaria history. Slide 9: ELCA Malaria Campaign • The ELCA Malaria Campaign has a goal to raise $15 million by 2015. And we’re confi dent that we can do it! • This money will be shared directly with our companion churches in Africa. We’ll fund their pro- grams of malaria prevention, education and treatment. • In this effort, we’re partnering with Lutheran churches and development agencies in 11 countries in Africa: Angola, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Slide 10: Preventable. Treatable. Now. There are four facets of our malaria programming with our companions. First of all, prevention. • Long-lasting, insecticide-treated mosquito nets are a major component of our malaria prevention work. Working through Lutheran churches in Africa, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is uniquely positioned to provide mos- quito nets, insecticides, medication, health care, education and more to eliminate deaths from this disease — for good. P .O. Box 71764 • Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764 www.elca.org/malaria www.facebook.com/Lutherans 800-638-3522
• Spraying of specially approved insecticides inside homes is another very effective method of malaria prevention that will be employed in our programs. • Clean water and sanitation programs will reduce mosquito breeding grounds. Our programming also includes malaria treatment as the second facet. • Lab equipment necessary for diagnosing malaria will be procured. • Health care workers will be trained to diagnose and treat malaria. • Clinics will be strengthened so that they can more effectively diagnose, treat and educate about malaria in their communities. • Our programs will ensure an adequate supply of anti-malaria medication. Slide 11: Preventable. Treatable. Now. Our malaria programming also includes malaria education, the third facet. • Clinics and other programs will provide health education in their communities. • Village health teams will be trained to educate others about malaria, its transmission, prevention and treatment. Capacity-building is the last component of our malaria programming. • This means that we will work with our companions to strengthen their organizations, in areas such as Human Resources management, project coordination and grant-writing. • This will equip our companions to meet the minimum standards in order to participate in other international relief programs, and gain other sources of funding. Slide 12: Get Involved! (Pray) So, I hope that by now, you’re all sitting on the edge of your seats, thinking, “This is a wonderful organi- zation! I want to help!” One way you can help is to pray. • You can pray for those whose lives are affected by malaria. • Pray for our companion churches in Africa who are working to prevent and treat malaria in their communities. Working through Lutheran churches in Africa, the ELCA Malaria Campaign is uniquely positioned to provide mos- quito nets, insecticides, medication, health care, education and more to eliminate deaths from this disease — for good. P .O. Box 71764 • Chicago, Illinois 60694-1764 www.elca.org/malaria www.facebook.com/Lutherans 800-638-3522
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