Donate a bed net, help wipe out malaria

When I took a trip to Tanzania in 2005, I took malaria pills to make sure that I wouldn't get malaria. But the natives that I met in Africa don't have the money for malaria pills. And just like you and me, they are afraid of malaria, too.

Malaria infects 500 million people and kills between 1 and 3 million, most of them children, each year. Malaria incapacitates people so they can't work and they have no income. Malaria slows economic growth.

Mosquitoes transmit malaria. Two ways to help prevent malaria are to kill off all the mosquitoes and to make sure mosquitoes don't get to the human. An insecticide-treated bed net can save the life of a family. Many lives can be spared with bed nets, and malaria can even be wiped out.

Nothing But Nets is a global grassroots campaign to buy and distribute bed nets to those who need them. Just $10 covers the cost of a net and educating users. To learn more, log on to www.nothingbutnets.net.

During this holiday season, please make someone else's life merry and donate a net.

Robert K. Kolchmeyer

Seventh Grade Hammarskjold Middle

School East Brunswick