Aspire Academy completes phase one of “Football Combating Malaria” campaign with the Leo Messi Foundation and Speak Up Africa

07 October 2017 – London, England:

 On day two of the ASPIRE4SPORT Congress and Exhibition in London, Aspire Academy announced that phase one of the “Football Combating Malaria” campaign has been completed

Phase two will soon get underway, where the campaign’s ambition is to distribute 400,000 mosquito nets across Senegal, including to all first grade students.

Launched by Aspire Academy in 2015, in conjunction with the Leo Messi Foundation, the campaign has been implemented in coordination with Speak Up Africa.

The campaign has set out to effect change across Senegal by building awareness on how to combat malaria by training community champions on malaria prevention and treatment. One of the main actions of the campaign has been the distribution of Leo Messi branded mosquito nets in elementary schools across Senegal.

Speaking at the start of the campaign, football superstar Lionel Messi, said: “Combating Malaria through Football is a very special project to me because I know it will help save thousands of young lives, and I’m delighted to be involved and throw my support behind it.”

Speaking at the ASPIRE4SPORT Congress and Exhibition, Yacine Djibo, President and Founder of Speak Up Africa, said: “Although Malaria is preventable and treatable, it still kills a child every two minutes.  This is unacceptable. I would like to thank Aspire Academy and the Leo Messi Foundation for their leadership and commitment to end malaria.”

Over the last two years the campaign has reached a number of significant milestones. To date, the campaign has:

• Trained 370 Community Supervisors.
• Delivered cascade training by each Community Supervisors to four more change agents. In total 1,310 people have committed to the campaign.
• Distributed more than 70,000 Leo Messi branded mosquito nets in more than 300 Senegalese elementary schools.
• Trained Head Nurses on how to better follow-up on IEC (Information, Education and Communication) activities.
• Educated communities on the use of essential prevention tools, which have touched more than 2 million people through home visits, talks and social mobilization activities.

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About Speak Up Africa

Headquartered in Dakar, Senegal, Speak Up Africa is a strategic communications and advocacy organization dedicated to catalyzing leadership, enabling policy change, and increasing awareness for sustainable development in Africa.

For more information, please contact:
For UK and International media:
Rory Anderson
Email: Adrian.Lewis@bluerubicon.qa
Tel: +44 20 7260 2792

For Qatar-based and regional media:
Dima Aljogol
Email: Dima.Aljogol@bluerubicon.qa
Tel: +974 3034 4770