02 Jul 2013
Saly, Senegal 27th June 2013: FC Barcelona and Argentinean football star Lionel Messi today arrived in Senegal to support the Aspire Academy’s ‘Football Combating Malaria’ project, a humanitarian programme endorsed by the Leo Messi Foundation, which will see an initial 400,000 anti-mosquito bed nets handed out to young people and their families across Africa – helping to reduce malaria infection across the continent. The number of free bed nets distributed in Africa will then increase to one million every year.
The ‘Football Combating Malaria’ project was established by Qatar’s prestigious Aspire Academy [www.aspire.qa] and has now joined forces with the Leo Messi Foundation and four-time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi. The Leo Messi Foundation, founded by the FC Barcelona striker in 2007, recently announced a partnership with the Aspire Academy’s ‘Football Combating Malaria’ project and among its other health-related projects, it has helped fight Chagas disease, rebuild and renovate hospitals and offer scholarships that train doctors to fight childhood cancer illnesses.
As the figurehead of this international anti-malaria campaign, Messi has travelled to Senegal to unveil a new anti-mosquito bed net and explain how he wishes to use his global profile and the power of football to help spread the message that malaria is preventable through the use of these bed nets.
Messi was greeted at the Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport in the Senegalese capital Dakar by a senior delegation from the national government. The global football icon then hosted an international press conference and met 50 local Senegalese children, presenting them with new bed nets to ensure the message about this important, live-saving device resonates powerfully across all African communities.
H.E. Sheikh Faisal Bin Ahmad Al Thani, Supervisor of the Board of the Aspire Academy, said: “Having a global sporting icon like Lionel Messi and his own Foundation support Football Combating Malaria will help us reach thousands of people in Africa, and spread the essential message that malaria is preventable via the use of anti-mosquito bed nets. Malaria is such a devastating disease in Africa and our promise is to deliver 400,000 life-saving bed nets to people in 10 countries across the continent. This will rise to one million nets being issued to people each year in Africa.
“Sport has a unique ability to bring people together and make a positive impact on local communities everywhere. Through the Aspire Academy and Aspire Football Dreams we have the opportunity to make the most important difference of all and help save lives with this anti-malaria campaign. With the valued support from the Leo Messi Foundation and Lionel Messi, we are a step closer to realising this opportunity and ensuring thousands more people in Africa never have to suffer this horrible disease.”
Lionel Messi, said: “The Aspire Academy’s Football Combating Malaria project is a very important initiative to me as I have seen the destructive force this disease has in communities in Africa and around the world. I am humbled to be here in Senegal as part of this great campaign to help prevent further malaria suffering.
“I believe we can use football and the inspirational power of sport to really make a difference by making people aware of how thousands of lives can be saved. In the time it takes to play a game of football, 180 children in Africa unnecessarily die because of malaria and handing out the bed nets will make an immediate life-changing difference to so many people. I am honoured to offer my commitment to Football Combating Malaria.”
In addition to the distribution of anti-mosquito bed nets by its ‘Football Combating Malaria’ initiative, the Aspire Academy will also place a medical official in every African town where the Aspire Football Dreams programme operates. Aspire Football Dreams is a humanitarian football project a created by the Aspire Academy in 2007, and is dedicated to nurturing football talents in Sub-Saharan African countries – helping young players develop personally and professionally so they can go on to achieve a successful football career and ultimately play for their national team.