The United Against Malaria (UAM) campaign, which will work in collaboration with the 2010 Soccer World Cup, was launched Wednesday in Johannesburg, South Africa, SAPA/IOL reports (12/2).
"The UAM aims to leverage the world's love affair with the beautiful game towards forming alliances with football players, their teams, sport officials, governments and fans, towards the goal of ending malaria in Africa. The 2010 Soccer World Cup, which will be held in Africa for the first time, presents a solid opportunity for raising mass awareness of - and taking action against - malaria," Inter Press Service reports in an article examining the campaign. Herve Verhoosel - external relations manager for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, which helped found UAM - said, "Ninety percent of all global malaria-related deaths occur in Africa, and of that, 85 percent are children under the age of five" (Bamjee-Mayet ,12/2).