Plan International: We Must Continue the Fight to End Preventable Malaria Deaths Across Africa

WASHINGTON - Efforts to stop millions of children dying needlessly from malaria must continue, children’s organization Plan International warns.

As World Malaria Day approaches on April 25th, Plan reiterates the need for continued financial efforts in Africa to help at-risk populations, in particular children under five-years-old and pregnant women, get access to prevention and treatment for malaria.

Cases of malaria are falling, with insecticide-treated bed nets a proven way to prevent the disease, which is caused by the Plasmodium parasite and spread by female Anopheles mosquitoes.Læs mere her!

Grandmothers fighting malnutrition, one child at a time

Mother knows best, right? Well if that’s the case, it’s safe to call grandmothers the wisest members of the family. In Benin, Africa, that’s definitely the case.
“It’s often the grandmother that passes on the traditions, knowledge and values to children,” explained Paul Sabi Boum, a Plan staff member from Benin. “She is a respected member of the household and the community, and she is uniquely placed to influence others because of her experience.”

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Building a brighter future: 20 years after the Rwanda genocide

Twenty years after the Rwanda Genocide, despite all odds the country is on track to becoming one of Africa’s most developed nations. 

In around 100 days from April 7, 1994, at least 800,000 – and as many as one million – Rwandans were brutally and systematically murdered. Most of those killed were ethnic Tutsis. Plan Australia CEO Ian Wishart was there immediately after the slaughter finished. “What I remember most is the silence – the deathly silence. You’d move through village after village and you wouldn’t see a soul,” he commented during an interview with ABC News. “And that was because they’d either been killed, or they’d fled.”
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Meeting my mum's sponsored child left a lasting impression

Whilst backpacking around Africa on a trip of a lifetime with my friend, Natasha Hayman, 25, I have been fortunate to see the impressive ethos and execution of projects carried out by global children’s charity Plan UK thanks to donations from child sponsorship in countries including Uganda, Ghana and Ethiopia. Yet, we were still unprepared for the overwhelming experience of actually meeting the girl my mum sponsors through the charity. Her name is Pascaline, and she lives in Togo. My mum has been sponsoring her for seven years and I couldn’t wait to meet her.A two-hour drive took us from Atakpamé Pascaline’s village in the heart of rural Togo. As we stepped out of the car we found ourselves in the middle of a procession of singers and dancers. We were immediately led to a central meeting area, which was a clearing in the shade of mango trees, where 200 villagers gathered to welcome us. 

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Seeing Africa - and My Father - with New Eyes

Togo is a different kind of Africa than I had visited before. There were no tightly packed safari trucks toting westerners around the savannah. No picturesque beaches covered with lounging tourists. In fact, we didn’t encounter any tourists while there. Life in Togo is difficult. But the people I met seemed genuinely happy.

When we first arrived in Kparatao, the village where my father served in the Peace Corps, we had no idea what our reception would be. We honestly expected to shake a few hands, drink some Fantas, take some pictures, and head out. That imagined scenario couldn’t be farther from what actually happened. We were greeted by hundreds of people, children and adults alike, waiting to usher us into the village. They danced, played music, spoke to us, gave us gifts, and more. They welcomed us into the village like old friends. It was really unbelievable.

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Tackling poverty together

Plan Australia is taking part in a five-year $90 million program to reduce poverty in Africa. The program, running 2011-2016, is a partnership between the Australian Government and ten Australian non-government organisations and their African partners. Throughout 11 African countries, the Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme (AACES) is working in the areas of food security, maternal and child health, and water and sanitation programs. The work is focusing particularly on women, children and people living with disability.

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Case study Plan and Nokia: Giving African children a voice

From radio shows to child helplines, watch the video to see how Plan's partnership with Nokia is helping children across Africa to speak out on child rights and bring about change.

Although there are 2 billion people under the age of 18 in the world they often have few opportunities to express themselves. Plan operates child media programmes in more than 30 countries worldwide to help children speak out on issues that matter to them using various mediums - such as radio, music and video.

The programmes give children the opportunity to gain self-confidence, make their voice heard and drive change in their community.

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World water day: Plan is helping communities meet their needs

On World Water Day 2013, 783 million people in the world do not have access to clean water – representing roughly one in ten of the world’s population. Around 700,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. That's almost 2,000 children a day.

Plan is playing its part in helping families around the world to ensure this basic need is met. Last year we supported over 400,000 families to improve their sanitation facilities and provided over 3,500 new or upgraded water points or community water systems. Much of this work was carried out in Africa.

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25 sponsored children and 25 letters every month

Everyone should know someone like Mr. Bear. He’s kind, generous and dedicated to his work and family. He’s also been sponsoring children with Plan Canada for over 30 years, and recently, he chose to sponsor an additional five children, bringing him to a total of 25 sponsored children.

Mr. Bear’s sponsored children span the globe in the Americas, Asia and Africa. He’s even posted a map in his office to keep track. Each child’s name and picture is posted on the map, and red string pinpoints their exact location around the world.

When we met with Mr. Bear, we discovered he wasn’t alone in his generous undertaking – in fact, he had a lot of help from one special person – his assistant, Rosemary.

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Serious delays achieving sanitation Millennium Development Goal

International Toilet day: Six out of ten Africans still do not have proper toilets

980 million children around the world - do not have toilets at home. If current trends continue, by 2015 2.4 billion people will still lack access to basic sanitation. Children are especially vulnerable to diseases spread through fecal contamination; high mortality rates, school enrollment down for girls, etc. Overall 27% of people in Sub-Saharan part of Africa still practice open defecation. NGOs - WaterAid and Plan International are raising the alert to this serious risk for health and an affront to human dignity.

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