Kenyan world-record-holding marathon runner, Eliud Kipchoge, World Cup-winning South African rugby captain Siya Kolisi, top female South African explorer Saray Khumalo, veteran international footballer Luis Figo, and founder of the first-ever Nigerian bobsleigh team, Seun Adigun, have all come together to ‘see the bigger picture’ by tackling Covid-19 and malaria together to save more lives with Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga, the leading women who put Nigeria down in history as Africa’s first bobsleigh team at the last Winter Olympics in Korea.
Adigun, who is also a former sprinter is part of the leading athletes from Africa and beyond of global influencers who are joining with youth champions behind the “Zero Malaria Starts with Me” campaign to inspire awareness and action on this World Mosquito Day.
CEO of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, said malaria does not stop devastating lives during health emergencies and still kills a child every two minutes.
“Indeed, experiences from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa show it can resurge in times of crisis with immediate and deadly consequences. Covid-19 has exposed weaknesses in health systems around the world and, with lives at risk and resources increasingly stretched; long-term malaria investment alongside short-term Covid-19 response is essential, smart, and cost-effective,” he posited during an event to commemorate the World Malaria Day.
