SPH club wins fundraiser to fight malaria

[BUSPH Rotaract President]

By: Christina Cromeyer Dieke, The Daily Free Press

Posted: 4/18/07

 

When one of its members became infected with malaria while working in the Peace Corps in Mozambique, the Boston University School of Public Health Rotaract Club decided to combat the deadly disease.

After nearly a year of competing with teams from around the world, the Beantown Beatdown of the 'Squiter -- a reference to the mosquitos that spread the disease -- was announced the winner of the Malaria Cup in the Madness Against Malaria Competition on April 15. The BU team raised $8,066 and donated 1,613 bed nets to prevent the spread of malaria south of the equator, where the disease kills about one million people each year, according to Malaria Foundation International.

The competition, sponsored by the United Kingdom-based World Swim for Malaria Foundation, involved 121 teams worldwide and was modeled after the single-elimination NCAA college basketball brackets. The teams were matched randomly, and the team that raised the most money in each round continued on.

Although the BU team did not raise the most money overall, it won the cup because members raised more money each round than the other competing teams.

"People have donated from all over the world, and we have names we don't recognize," said Rotaract Club President Jirair Ratevosian, a School of Public Health graduate student.

School of Public Health Associate Dean for Students Ngina Lythcott said it is practical to buy bed nets for countries south of the equator where malaria spreads easily.

"The idea of having anti-malarial devices in tents and beds as opposed to medication is pretty obvious," she said.

Malaria victims often have to take time off of work to recover from the chronic disease, Lythcott said.

Rotaract Club student and community service officer Jessica Kraft, an SPH graduate student who contracted malaria while in Mozambique, said she had the disease for a week but immediately received treatment and medication because she could afford them.

"It's sad, because malaria is so preventable and cheap to treat, and still so many people die of it each year," Kraft said.

BU's team tried to offset costs for those who cannot afford treatment through fundraising and encouraging SPH administrators to donate.

Contributions included a concert that collected $980, SPH dean Robert Meenan's $250 donation and Lythcott's last-minute donation of $250 at the end of last week when she promised to match every dollar of the amount raised between Friday and Sunday, when the competition ended.

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