'Nothing but nets'

Kudos to Sports Illustrated magazine columnist Rick Reilly. His essays usually touch on sporting topics and personalities. His most recent column, however, touched on a topic which has nothing to do with sports but is much more important. He urged readers to donate money to the UN's anti-malaria campaign. The money will be used to buy mosquito nets treated with insecticide to be given to people in malaria-prone regions of Africa. Malaria still kills more people in Africa than any other cause, natural or man-made.

How much will go to buying nets, Reilly asks. All of it. Thanks to Ted Turner, who donated $1 billion to create the U.N. Foundation, which covers all the overhead, "every cent will go to nets," says Andrea Gay, the U.N. Foundation's Director of Children's Health.

In the four days since the column first appeared, readers have donated $160,000, thus saving the lives of 11,000 children and their families, according to the UN.

If you'd like to donate, click here.


(If for some reason, you object to the UN, you can also donate to Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, which has also done a lot of work in the fight against malaria.)