The Cheapest Way To Save A Life

Imagine you want to donate $1000 to a charity.

If your goal was to save as many lives as possible, how would you spend that money?

• By making cars safer? Nope

• Run more anti-smoking campaigns? No

• What about getting more people vaccinated? Useful, but not the most efficient

The answer?

By buying bed nets to stop people from getting Malaria

Malaria Is One Of The Biggest Killers Of Children

In 2021 Malaria:

• Infected 247 million people (that’s like everyone in Pakistan getting Malaria)

• Killed 619,000 people, mostly children (that’s the same as filling Yankee Stadium 13 times)

• The vast majority of these people were from Sub-Saharan Africa

Even if you survive malaria, its effects can linger

• Long-Term Consequences: Malaria can:

  • Cause learning difficulties

  • Damage your organs

  • Weaken your immune system

• Loss of Income: When you get sick you can’t work.

• Fewer Tourists: Many countries in Africa depend on tourism to grow their economy. But when travellers know there is a chance of catching Malaria, they stay away.

Malaria is horrible, but it is solvable.

Against Malaria Is One Of The Most Effective Charities In The World

• They give out bed nets coated in insecticide, a chemical that kills insects but is harmless to people.

How Effective Are Bed Nets?

Amazingly, delightfully, wonderfully effective.

For every 1000 nets they:

• Save 1 life.

• Prevent 500 - 1000 cases of malaria

• Improves the GDP of a country by $50,000 (because people who otherwise would have been sick can go to work)

These bed nets are estimated to have prevented 450 million cases of malaria between 2000–2015

In Africa, bed nets reduced the death of children under 5 by 20%!

We Can Eradicate Malaria

Every year malaria infects millions and kills hundreds of thousands. But, Malaria is a solvable problem.

What’s the biggest barrier to eradicating malaria?

Money.

One bed net costs around $5. About as much as a coffee

Cheers,

Jared