Through the Change for Good partnership with UNICEF, British Airways is further restating its commitment to Nigeria. Andrew Crawley, Director of Sales and Marketing, visited Lagos Health Centre, to meet the UNICEF team and mark World Malaria Day. The visit saw Crawley distributing long lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets at Alimosho Health Centre, Lagos, demonstrating British Airways commitment to the eradication of malaria in the state.

In March 2009, the Change for Good Programme donated over £220,000 (48. 5 million Nigerian Naira) to UNICEF for use in malaria prevention programmes in Nigeria. This latest funding will help provide and distribute 36,000 long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets for children under five and pregnant women living in Alimosho, Lagos State.

Across Africa a child dies from malaria every thirty seconds. In Nigeria, Government reports estimate that malaria accounts for 20-30% of all deaths in children under one year old. Yet the use of insecticide-treated nets by children under five and pregnant women is only 6.8%.

UNICEF and partners are working with the Nigerian Government to combat malaria by promoting the use of long lasting insecticide-treated bed nets among the general population. The nets are distributed to the most vulnerable groups in order to prevent the spread of malaria and give young children and pregnant women a better chance for survival.

British Airways Director of Sales and Marketing, Andrew Crawley said, “British Airways is delighted to be able to continually support the vital distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets carried out by UNICEF and the Government of Nigeria .Thanks to the generosity of British Airways customers, the Change for Good donation will provide nets for more than 35% of the target population in Alimosho, Lagos State, preventing the spread of malaria amongst the most vulnerable members of the community. On behalf of everyone at British Airways, I would like to thank all our customers who have donated their spare currency to the Change for Good programme. Without them the funding of this project would not be possible.”

This donation means the Change for Good programme, which raises money for some of the world’s most vulnerable children in 56 countries, has now donated over one million pounds to projects in Nigeria alone. One of the first recipients of Change for Good funding in the country was Kuje primary school, where in 2002, the Change for Good funding was used to support the rebuilding of the school; furnishing classrooms, providing toilets and running water.

Set up in 1994 to collect spare foreign currency from customers travelling on British Airways flights, Change for Good has so far raised more than £26 million for UNICEF’s work to support some of the world’s most vulnerable children in over 56 countries. UNICEF’s representative, Paula Fedeski added, “We appreciate and applaud the thoughtfulness of British Airways’ customers around the world. UNICEF relies on its partners like Change for Good to make sure children and pregnant women get to sleep under a long-lasting insecticidal mosquito net every night: quite simply, it gives them a better chance for survival.”

source: nigerianbulletin.com