26 Jun 2013
24th June 2013, Saly, Senegal: Qatar’s Aspire Academy has joined forces with Argentina and FC Barcelona star, Lionel Messi and the Lionel Messi Foundation, to combat malaria in Africa through football. The prestigious sports academy runs a humanitarian football project in 10 African countries as a part of its global scouting program, Aspire Football Dreams.
Messi will travel to the Aspire Academy branch in Senegal at the end of this month to show his support and association with the Aspire Academy’s Football Combating Malaria project which aims to reduce malaria infection in Africa.
Speaking ahead of his visit to Senegal, Lionel Messi said: “I know my trip to Senegal will be difficult because I will see the suffering that malaria causes, but I know that we have a great chance to use the power of football to help save lives. Every 90 minutes 180 children die from this horrible disease in Africa, but almost all of these can be avoided by using bed nets. Football Combating Malaria is a very special project to me because I know it will help save thousands of young lives, and I’m delighted to be involved and throw my support behind it.”
The Aspire Academy’s Football Combating Malaria project, which has the support of many African national football associations, leading players and major pharmaceutical companies, will see the Aspire Academy distribute an initial 400,000 mosquito bed nets across the 10 countries in Africa that the Aspire Football Dreams project currently operates in. This will grow to one million bed nets each year throughout Africa.
The initiative will also see a medical person placed in every town where the Aspire Football Dreams project is active to identify and control malaria symptoms in players and their families involved in its scouting program, with the provision of medication to treat any detected cases.
Press Release 1/ AFD/2013:
Bed nets are the most effective preventive measure for large scale deployment, reducing the incidence of malaria by up to 95% in certain regions. However, of the 650 million individuals at risk in Africa, only 125 million currently have bed nets.
The Football Combating Malaria project will support the Programa National de Lutte le Palu [PNLP], an existing anti-malaria programme that is working to eradicate the disease throughout Africa.
Ivan Bravo, Director General of the Aspire Academy, said: “It is fantastic that Lionel is so passionate about the Football Combating Malaria. His visit to Senegal will really help spread the message to children and their families in Africa that malaria can be avoided by using bed nets. Aspire Football Dreams will distribute 400,000 bed nets initially and this will grow to one million nets each year across Africa. We have 86 coordinators in Senegal alone, who will manage the distribution of the nets, and visit families to ensure they are being used correctly.
“Our approach is to use the power of football to prevent this horrible disease, but we will also be working closely with local medical practitioners to ensure tablets and drips are administered as soon as possible if malaria symptoms appear in the villages we are working in.”
Minister of Health for Senegal, Prof. Awa Marie Coll-Seck, said:
“Aspire Academy’s campaign Football Combating Malaria is an innovative campaign that is to be applauded. The engagement off all sectors of society is crucial to put an end to malaria deaths, a disease that is preventable and treatable.”
FIFA President, Joseph S Blatter has already pledged to support the fight against malaria, along with many high profile players including: Roger Milla (Cameroon), Kolo Toure and Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Michael Essien (Ghana), Frédéric Kanouté (Mali), and Landon Donovan (USA).