Working to Be a Model Citizen

摘要

Growing Up in Murray, Ky., I never tucked in at night with a fear of sleeping safely. However, thousands of other children are not so fortunate. Every 30 seconds, a child dies of malaria, a disease transmitted by the bite of a mosquito. Malaria is characterized by recurrent symptoms of chills, fever, and an enlarged spleen, but it is preventable and treatable, although it continues to afflict the continent of Africa. Actually, the figures are staggering. Half of the world population is at risk of the disease. There are nearly 1,000,000 malaria deaths each year and 85% of those are children under five years of age. The devastation does not stop at loss of human life. Malaria costs Africa billions of dollars each year in direct losses and, in some countries, where it is more prevalent, the disease accounts for up to 40% of public health expenditures.