Malaria is a preventable and curable disease. In October 2006, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Program worked with malaria control advocates in Washington, D.C. to generate simple, universal messages about malaria that all advocates can use. The results can be viewed here. You can adapt these basic messages to let your colleagues, friends and relatives know that malaria can and should be stopped.
You can reach even more people by using this information to write an editorial or letter to your local newspaper, either to raise awareness of malaria or respond to articles on the subject. You can use our Frequently Asked Questions as a resource, and the various articles, editorials and letters on our website as examples.
You can also use this information to write a letter to your local politicians to tell them about malaria and ask what they are doing to fight it. If you live in a country that belongs to the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development, you can research and contact your country's foreign assistance program about its malaria control efforts in Africa.
If you live in Africa, you can learn more about the malaria burden in your country by consulting the World Malaria Report 2011. You can also use AFM's Ministries of Health and Ministries of Finance web pages to research and contact your government about progress on malaria control.
RESULTS, an international grassroots advocacy organization for disease and other social issues, provides invaluable activist resources and training tools for individuals, groups and networks aspiring to become effective advocates. AFM strongly recommends that you consult RESULTS for guidance on advocacy generally, and apply its framework to malaria control wherever possible.
