The music sizzles through the stadium. The beat pulses across the pitch. In South Africa, United Against Malaria Champion Yvonne Chaka Chaka is fighting malaria through music, and the fans love it. The South African superstar performed her malaria anthem "Hearts on Fire" during the UAM celebration at the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations closing ceremony in Johannesburg, together with African singers and dancers. The new song is available for purchase, with proceeds benefitting UAM and Princess of Africa Foundation.
What's the most powerful tool to protect a child from malaria?
There are many: long-lasting insecticide-treated bednets, rapid diagnostic tests, artemisinin-based combination therapies, and antenatal care for pregnant women. But for World Malaria Day (April 25), there's a tool that's both powerful and simple, the United Against Malaria bracelet--and it's one of the easiest ways to raise funds for malaria control efforts in Africa.
For renowned singer-songwriter and United Against Malaria champion Yvonne Chaka Chaka, one of the most powerful weapons in the fight against malaria is the human voice. In February 2013, the South African superstar performed her malaria anthem "Hearts on Fire" during the closing ceremony of the Africa Cup of Nations—the continent’s premier tournament—to raise awareness and support for ending malaria.
Anna McCartney-Melstad of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs wrote this letter to the editor for multiple South African publications on February 7, 2012. Anna is based in South Africa.
JOIN OTHER SOUTH AFRICAN HEROES TO BEAT MALARIA
Your recent coverage of the six malaria cases in Pretoria, “6 malaria cases confirmed in Tshwane” (http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/6-malaria-cases-confirmed-in-Tshwane-20120203, (3 February 2012) brings to light the plight facing most of sub-Saharan Africa. Although much of South Africa is lucky to be free from the scourge of malaria, this preventable and treatable disease still claims the lives of more than 800 000 people a year, many of them African women and children.
