Chaka Chaka distributes 1 million treated nets in Malawi

Mangochi, Malawi - South African song-bird Yvonne Chaka Chaka, has embarked on a two-week campaign to distribute 1.1 million insecticide-treated nets, free of charge, to children aged under-five and pregnant women across Malawi.

Chaka Chaka, of the 1980 hit songs "I Am In Love With A DJ", "I am Burning Up" and "Umquomboti" fame, is now the United Nations' Children's Fund's Regional Good w ill Ambassador for malaria.

She told PANA she decided to take on the killer disease head-on, because she had a personal tragedy.

"In 2004, I travelled to Gabon to play music and coming back, one of my musicians had contracted malaria and she died of that," she said.

"So that really prompted me to want to know more, to learn about malaria and to want to do something about it, because it was just hurting to know that malaria is preventable and curable and why did she have to die?"

The singer said since then, she decided to be an advocate for the prevention of the disease.

According to her, as a UNICEF ambassador for malaria and roll back malaria, she goes around countries, drumming up support for malaria cause.

Although she praised US President George W. Bush's Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI), she said the world should know more, to fight the disease.

"We still need more money because although everybody is talking about HIV/AIDS, malaria kills more people," she said, adding that "malaria is a disease without borders; it doesn't matter whether you are young or old."

Chaka Chaka said the campaign she launched in Malawi will ensure that all children under the age of five and pregnant women sleep under insecticide-treated nets to prevent them from contracting malaria.

"I am delighted to be associated with the campaign in Malawi because of the many children lives that will potentially be saved," she said, pointing out "I am also happy that Malawi has managed to reduce children deaths, making it one of the few countries in Africa that are on course towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal on reducing child mortality by two thirds."

Health Minister Khumbo Kachali, who accompanied Chaka Chaka to the launch, said the Malawi government was committed to fighting the disease.

"The campaign is a major step in our continued efforts to combat malaria and provide better health to all children in Malawi," Kachali said, noting that "ensuring that every young child and pregnant mother sleep under a treated mosquitonet is an important component of our public health interventions."

Malaria remains a leading cause of death among under-five children in Malawi, accounting for 18 per cent of all hospital deaths and 40 per cent of all hospital visits.

Malaria also contributes to anaemia in children and is a common cause of school absenteeism in older children, according to UNICEF.

Malawi embarks on a large-scale distribution of treated nets once every two years. The first mass campaign was in November 2006, when 600, 000 insecticide-treated nets were distributed to communities countrywide.

Since 2003, more than 5 million nets have been distributed, resulting in an incr ease in the percentage of households owning a treated net from 6 per cent in 2000 to over 60 per cent in 2007.

In 2007 there were 4 million reported cases of malaria in Malawi, where 7, 000 people died.