Gates Foundation Partners with Rotary to Eradicate Malaria

Philip Welkhoff, director of the malaria program with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation came to speak to Rotarians at their large club conference last month about their partnership to defeat malaria, a disease claiming the lives of nearly half a million people per year. After expressing gratitude and recognition of Rotary’s past partnership with the foundation, Welkhoff announced the Gates’ Foundation’s added support.

Rotarians played an essential role in the eradication of polio. The next focus is malaria. The Gates’ Foundation will be matching all donations one-to-one up to a total of $500,000 to go towards ending malaria.

For the past 15 years, there has been a global fight against malaria starting with a death toll of a million per year to now saving half a million lives per year.  Fifteen years later and the numbers aren’t falling as fast as they used to. Two million cases are still reported every year. Welkhoff questions how there are still 430,000 deaths per year from a disease that is completely preventable and treatable.

Welkhoff reminisces, “Hard-fought, hard-lived and hard-learned lessons were learned when eradicating polio.” These are the very same lessons that will help eradicate malaria. So how do we get the ingredients of success to bring the numbers to zero.

Some countries make up the majority of the malaria cases while some have their numbers very close to zero. Welkhoff explores what is holding us back. “They need health systems, there’s poor access to healthcare, poor logistics, under resourced health systems” he goes on. “Improve access to care and they can get a diagnosis in a timely way.”  The faster the diagnosis the easier and faster it is to treat the patient and get them back to optimal health

What’s great about contributing to this cause is that eradicating malaria does more than just fix the malaria problem. Childrens’ immune systems become strong enough to fight off pneumonia and other infections. Welkhoff learned that when a community gets rid of malaria the death rate drops double the amount they thought malaria death rates were. This is because they are able to fight off other infections and diseases much better.

Welkhoff has an extensive background in fighting disease on a global level. With a Ph.D. in applied and computational mathematics, he has previously developed computer simulations of malaria and polio that assisted public health professionals and scientists in the eradication of certain diseases.

Welkhoff grew up on the north coast of Haiti where he had drank from water systems that were put in by Rotary. With such a personal connection to the assistance of Rotary, Welkhoff understands the significance of what the organization does. From a very young age, he could see the impact that Rotary can have on a community. “Rotary has this amazing ability to work at every different scale,” he said. However, he did not understand, and he learns more every year, the scope of the reach that Rotary truly has. “I could see that combination of make the community better make the world better was at the core of what Rotary is about” said Welkhoff.

His speech really honed in on the power and capacity that Rotary has to change the world. “When Rotary moves in a certain direction, the world follows” he said. All of the great qualities that Rotary encompasses allows for the club to have such a wide-range global impact. The mixture of skill sets within each chapter and across chapters, the dedication to engaging in the community, the influence, and the connections are all great aspects that make Rotary actions so powerful.

For more information on how to contribute to ending malaria visit https://www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Information/Contact-Us. If you’re interested in having a global impact and making a difference by becoming an active member of the Rotary club visit http://www.rotarylongbeach.org/contact.

tonjanae@beachcomber.news