Dunking for Malaria - Knicks Care - Dunk Malaria
By Lisa Liang
The New York Knicks’ 121-117 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in double overtime last Wednesday wasn’t the only miracle at work for the night: Also at the March 15 game, Hedge Funds vs. Malaria launched the “Dunk Malaria” initiative, an event aimed to raise awareness about the disease that claims an estimated three million lives per year.
Before and during the game, mini-basketball hoops were set up around Madison Square Garden and small basketballs were passed around the arena inviting fans to take a shot to raise awareness about the disease. The game marked the official start of a global movement against an illness that is “completely preventable and eradicable,” said Lance Laifer, founder of Hedge Funds vs. Malaria, at a press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York City.
In just one of many recent and future initiatives, “Dunk Malaria” is an ambitious plan launched by Laifer to symbolically connect the idea of a basketball net to the bed netting used in preventing the spread of malaria.
As one of three ways to effectively combat the disease, bed netting keeps parasite-spreading mosquitoes out of homes in sub-Sahara Africa, where 90 percent of malaria cases occur. Another preventative course is to spray insecticide on the walls of houses and huts, which not only kills mosquitoes but repels them as well. Like regular bug repellent that can be bought in local drug stores, an insecticide spray works by deterring mosquitoes from approaching a sprayed area.
“It’s not the stuff you spray on your skin,” explains Roger Bate, US Director for Africa Fighting Malaria, of the spray that contains DDT—the chemical used in pesticides. “It’s stronger than that, but it’s perfectly safe.”
There are also medicines available, should a person become infected, as the final method for managing the disease, though drugs are more expensive and hospitals hard to find.
“You don’t have primary health care in places like Congo,” notes Bate. Taking simple measures like installing proper netting or spraying walls every six months would not only impede the spread of malaria but also other diseases such as Gambian sleeping sickness and yellow fever, both of which are also spread by flying insects and kill hundreds of thousands of people annually. “Bed nets, spraying and drugs are all very useful,” says Bate, “and all approaches need to be followed.”
Bate estimates that 500 to 600 million people are at risk each year, and it would take about $2 billion to control the disease, which currently receives only $300 to $400 million in funding. “Part of the reason Hedge Funds is working with the ‘Dunk Malaria’ approach is because this disease, by buying bed nets for villages, is easily preventable,” Bate says. “It’s one of those diseases where if we spend a lot more money and spend it well, we can save a hell of a lot of lives.”
Not only do preventative measures like bed netting and insecticide spraying save lives, but Bate also adds that the impact on the economies of African nations “is astonishing.” When a child contracts malaria—and malaria affects mostly children under the age of five—mothers become occupied with caring for sick children, which prevents them from working and ultimately causes them to die poor, in turn drastically diminishing a nation’s rate of development. Preventing the spread of malaria is thus the key for healthier and more stable African nations.
Of the “Dunk Malaria” initiative, Bate remarks that it is a “small start, but it can really go somewhere. The first time I ever went to Madison Square Garden was Wednesday night, and people who had probably never even thought about malaria were talking about it. It was great to see.”
“Sport has the power to battle malaria,” says Dr.Djibril Diallo, former malaria survivor and current Director of the UN New York Office of Sport for Development and Peace. “No matter what religion, race or economic background, sport is the universal language and the best thing to bring people together.”
To prove Dr. Diallo’s point, the New York Knicks were the first sports franchise to join Hedge Funds vs. Malaria in an effort to raise awareness about the disease. “You have to have a starting point, and the Knicks are that starting point,” said John Starks, former Knicks guard and now Alumni Relations and Fan Advisor, at the UN press conference. “We want to get millions of people around the world to take an action for malaria, and we are excited to be a part of something that is going to save lives.”
In addition to launching “Dunk Malaria” at the Knicks vs. Hawks game last Wednesday, Laifer also undertook a “Malaria-thon,” where, starting at 11:45 p.m. on Saturday evening, March 18, he conducted a 24-hour walk around New York City, mini-basketball and hoop in hand, asking people to take a shot for malaria. “Malaria has killed more people than any disease in world history,” said Laifer, also at the press conference, “yet somehow it has managed to fall through the cracks…we need to get a movement going.”
More information on malaria can be found at www.malaria.org.
By Lisa Liang
The New York Knicks’ 121-117 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in double overtime last Wednesday wasn’t the only miracle at work for the night: Also at the March 15 game, Hedge Funds vs. Malaria launched the “Dunk Malaria” initiative, an event aimed to raise awareness about the disease that claims an estimated three million lives per year.
Before and during the game, mini-basketball hoops were set up around Madison Square Garden and small basketballs were passed around the arena inviting fans to take a shot to raise awareness about the disease. The game marked the official start of a global movement against an illness that is “completely preventable and eradicable,” said Lance Laifer, founder of Hedge Funds vs. Malaria, at a press conference at the UN Headquarters in New York City.
In just one of many recent and future initiatives, “Dunk Malaria” is an ambitious plan launched by Laifer to symbolically connect the idea of a basketball net to the bed netting used in preventing the spread of malaria.
As one of three ways to effectively combat the disease, bed netting keeps parasite-spreading mosquitoes out of homes in sub-Sahara Africa, where 90 percent of malaria cases occur. Another preventative course is to spray insecticide on the walls of houses and huts, which not only kills mosquitoes but repels them as well. Like regular bug repellent that can be bought in local drug stores, an insecticide spray works by deterring mosquitoes from approaching a sprayed area.
“It’s not the stuff you spray on your skin,” explains Roger Bate, US Director for Africa Fighting Malaria, of the spray that contains DDT—the chemical used in pesticides. “It’s stronger than that, but it’s perfectly safe.”
There are also medicines available, should a person become infected, as the final method for managing the disease, though drugs are more expensive and hospitals hard to find.
“You don’t have primary health care in places like Congo,” notes Bate. Taking simple measures like installing proper netting or spraying walls every six months would not only impede the spread of malaria but also other diseases such as Gambian sleeping sickness and yellow fever, both of which are also spread by flying insects and kill hundreds of thousands of people annually. “Bed nets, spraying and drugs are all very useful,” says Bate, “and all approaches need to be followed.”
Bate estimates that 500 to 600 million people are at risk each year, and it would take about $2 billion to control the disease, which currently receives only $300 to $400 million in funding. “Part of the reason Hedge Funds is working with the ‘Dunk Malaria’ approach is because this disease, by buying bed nets for villages, is easily preventable,” Bate says. “It’s one of those diseases where if we spend a lot more money and spend it well, we can save a hell of a lot of lives.”
Not only do preventative measures like bed netting and insecticide spraying save lives, but Bate also adds that the impact on the economies of African nations “is astonishing.” When a child contracts malaria—and malaria affects mostly children under the age of five—mothers become occupied with caring for sick children, which prevents them from working and ultimately causes them to die poor, in turn drastically diminishing a nation’s rate of development. Preventing the spread of malaria is thus the key for healthier and more stable African nations.
Of the “Dunk Malaria” initiative, Bate remarks that it is a “small start, but it can really go somewhere. The first time I ever went to Madison Square Garden was Wednesday night, and people who had probably never even thought about malaria were talking about it. It was great to see.”
“Sport has the power to battle malaria,” says Dr.Djibril Diallo, former malaria survivor and current Director of the UN New York Office of Sport for Development and Peace. “No matter what religion, race or economic background, sport is the universal language and the best thing to bring people together.”
To prove Dr. Diallo’s point, the New York Knicks were the first sports franchise to join Hedge Funds vs. Malaria in an effort to raise awareness about the disease. “You have to have a starting point, and the Knicks are that starting point,” said John Starks, former Knicks guard and now Alumni Relations and Fan Advisor, at the UN press conference. “We want to get millions of people around the world to take an action for malaria, and we are excited to be a part of something that is going to save lives.”
In addition to launching “Dunk Malaria” at the Knicks vs. Hawks game last Wednesday, Laifer also undertook a “Malaria-thon,” where, starting at 11:45 p.m. on Saturday evening, March 18, he conducted a 24-hour walk around New York City, mini-basketball and hoop in hand, asking people to take a shot for malaria. “Malaria has killed more people than any disease in world history,” said Laifer, also at the press conference, “yet somehow it has managed to fall through the cracks…we need to get a movement going.”
More information on malaria can be found at www.malaria.org.
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