Net Worth: Saving Lives in Africa

(Image credit: Peter Hince)

By Marie Claire published 21 March 08

Floating in a sea of blue, textile workers in Arusha, Tanzania, inspect insecticide-treated malaria nets for holes before they're distributed throughout the country. In Rwanda and Ethiopia, which have already received about 7.5 million of the $5.50 plastic nets, the World Health Organization reports a 50 percent decline in deaths, especially among pregnant women and children, from a disease that, until recently, killed 900,000 Africans each year.

Do you want to help? Check out Nothing But Nets. The United Nations Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign is a global, grassroots effort to save lives by preventing malaria through the free mass distribution of long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets. For just $10, individuals can send a net and save a life; the donation covers the cost to purchase and distribute a bed net and educate the recipient on its proper use.