Fever Breaker

More children die of malaria-a preventable disease-than HIV/AIDS. But former venture capitalist Ray Chambers, the U.N. secretary-general's special envoy for malaria, is hoping to change that by 2010.

GOOD: Where are we in the eradication of malaria?Ray Chambers: On September 25, the United Nations announced $3.2 billion in new funding to cover all 600 million people at risk of malaria with bed nets and medication by December 31, 2010. It's now within our reach; we announced that we expect to see zero deaths from malaria by 2015. G: Why did you decide to tackle malaria?RC: It is a disease that has killed 50 million children-a million just last year-all preventable, mainly by a simple $10 insecticide-treated mosquito net. I view it as genocide of apathy. It costs the continent of Africa more than $50 billion a year. In any number of countries on any given day, one out of four members of the workforce is absent because of malaria. And if you're a child under 5, and you get bitten by a malarious mosquito, you must get the right medicine within 30 hours or you're dead. So, in a country like Liberia or Sierra Leone, one out of four children dies from malaria by the age of 5. And all of this is preventable. G: Does this effort lack traction and accountability?RC: Part of what the secretary-general has charged me with is to make sure that we're properly evaluating and monitoring our investment. And with my background in the business world, [with] everything I've done I've tried to measure the return on investment. So, here we're looking at $50 billion a year that this disease is costing Africa. Over the next two-plus years, to get the disease under control, we're going to need between 2 and 3 billion a year. So, let's say it's a $6-billion investment through the end of 2010. Wouldn't you make an investment every day if you could invest $6 billion and get a $50-billion return annually?G: Are you optimistic about where we are as a planet, and as a species?RC: I'm always optimistic. But, clearly, we've been headed in the wrong direction. If the trend we've been on for the last number of decades continues, I don't think we'll make it. So, there has to be some really conscious, intentional, sacrificial efforts employed across the globe for us to turn things around.

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NOW WHAT Join the fight to help fight malaria. You can get involved with the Global Fund at globalfund.org, or at some other malaria-related charities like Malaria No More (a Choose GOOD Partner) or Nothing But Nets.