Online Archives

Church seeks funding to combat malaria in Africa

By Shaun Lane
UMConnection Staff

Rose Farhat vividly recalls the time when malaria almost took her life. She was 12 years old, living in a small town in Liberia. Her family had no money to see a doctor and no medication to ease the pain.

“I remember feeling like my head was about to explode,” Farhat said, a member of the Liberia Episcopal Area, who suffered from malaria several times in her life. “My family had no money to help. All I could do was pray.”

Eventually, Farhat’s family was able to get her to a United Methodist-run hospital, not far from where she lived. She received the necessary medications – free of charge – and was nursed back to health. She is now a student at Wesley Seminary in Washington, D.C.

The thoughts of trying to survive and hearing the cries of mothers at the hospital who lost their children are things that she will carry with her forever.

“I remember hearing the loud cries of mothers one room away from me after they lost their children to malaria,” she said. “It affected me as well because the children who died were my friends. They were my neighbors. I went to school with them.”

Farhat told her story to more than 100 Imagine No Malaria advocates, including United Methodist members from 29 states, 40 annual conferences and five participants from Africa. They met for a three-day conference called, "Imagine No Malaria: Days on the Hill." The goal was to meet with 100 members of Congress to urge for continued global health funding, particularly to fight malaria. They ultimately met with 113 congressional members. The event was hosted by the Global Board of Church and Society and the Imagine No Malaria campaign. Members of the Baltimore-Washington Conference participated and also met with lawmakers, including Maryland Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski.

“This is a critical time for all foreign aid as the Congress wrestles with budget deficits and trimming programs,” said Sandy Ferguson, director of connectional ministries for the Baltimore-Washington Conference. “This event will enable us to send a strong signal to our senators and representatives that the money our government gives to support global health programs to fight malaria is important and needs to be sustained. If we cut back our support now we risk losing the tremendous gains we made in the last several years. 

“In addition, other nations and other groups might decide to scale back their support as well. We want to let Congress know that the support they have given is saving lives every day and is important to us both as citizens and as people of faith.”

Although most participants visited lawmakers who represented their particular jurisdictions, the overall message to Congress was the same: Continue to fully support global health aid, including critical funds of $650 million for the fight against malaria. Do not turn back the progress that has been made and cause other countries to follow suit.

“The United States has been the world leader in global health aid, especially through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria and through the President’s Malaria Initiative,” said Rev. Clayton Childers, a GBCS staff member who directs advocacy for Imagine No Malaria. “Because of our commitment, other countries have stepped up their giving as well. We want to do all we can to ensure this critical funding continues.

“Cutbacks by the U.S. mean less money for the fight, fewer bed nets, less educational resourcing, less money for critical treatments to save lives. We used to say one child dies every 30 seconds from malaria. A few years ago we were able to change that and say a child dies every 45 seconds. Last year, for the first time, we were able to say a child dies every 60 seconds. This is the dramatic progress we have been able to make. We must not let up. We risk rolling back the progress we have been able to make.”

As people like Mike McCurry, member of the Baltimore-Washington Conference, and Gary Henderson, director of the United Methodist Global Health Initiative, addressed the annual conference leaders and others to learn strategies when talking with members of Congress, Farhat listened intently, fully understanding the implications if the budget for global health and malaria is not preserved.

“When you have malaria, it kills more than just the person suffering from it,” Farhat said. “You kill the mother who loses her child, the friends of the child, people who know him. Malaria may not kill those people physically, but you still are killing a piece of them. The effects of the devastation of malaria go well beyond what you may think. We need to continue to support the effort to end this deadly disease.”

Bishop Thomas Bickerton, chair of the Global Health Initiatives, answered questions about the Imagine No Malaria campaign and The United Methodist Church.

Raising $75 million to $100 million is a formidable task for any undertaking. What made you believe The United Methodist Church could do this?

Before we received our first grant from the United Nations Foundation we were required to employ the services of fund-raising counsel. Through their extensive research and analysis of the denomination, it was determined that the $75 million dollar figure was an achievable goal. When we reach our goal this will represent the largest amount of funds raised by the denomination for one single cause. This campaign, endorsed by the 2008 General Conference, has as its goal the raising of $75 million dollars to help in the drive to eliminate malaria-related death by 2015.

How does Imagine No Malaria relate to the Four Areas of Focus in the church?

Imagine No Malaria IS the Four Areas of Focus and the Four Areas of Focus IS Imagine No Malaria. Our work in the Global Health Initiative has, understandably, been almost solely centered around the goal of “eliminating malaria related deaths by 2015.” The bishops of Africa have been clear with us that if we are concerned about Global Health, which includes things like HIV/AIDS & Tuberculosis, we must first deal with the issue of malaria. We have taken their lead and structured everything we have done around elimination of malaria-related death. In addition, whenever our Global Health Initiative Executive Team gathers we have representatives from the boards of Global Missions, Higher Education and Ministry, Discipleship, Church and Society, and United Methodist Communications. Our work centers around issues of leadership development/awareness, ministry with the poor, and new places for new people whenever we gather. Our work has found exciting and creative intersections with the other three areas of focus during our work over the last four years. 

What impact have you seen on young people because of the INM campaign?

The College Connection component of our Imagine No Malaria work is only now finding some significant flower, however, we are truly excited about how this campaign is energizing the creative and spiritual energies of our young adults on the college campus. In addition, the young people of our church, from children to youth, have really become the banner carriers of this movement. They have been the creative drivers who have stimulated wonderful ways to raise money among the grassroots sector of our denomination. Young people want to make a difference NOW. They want to be led in understanding how their faith might find tangible expression and our Imagine NO Malaria campaign has been one of the most significant testimonies to this reality. We love hearing about the constant stories of creativity that have and are emerging from our young people.