Run against Malaria with BMRA

The theme for this year's annual Brufut run, organised by the Brufut Marathon Run Association (BMRA), is dubbed as "Run Against Malaria."

What is Malaria?  Malaria is transmitted from one person to another through the bite of a female Anopheles, species of mosquito, prevalent in the sub-Saharan Africa. It is considered to be one of the most dangerous killer-diseases in the region.

United Nations and UNICEF reports confirm that malaria is a principal cause of at least one-fifth of young children deaths in Africa. Indeed children under five and pregnant women are particularly more vulnerable due to their weaker immune systems. It was estimated in 2003 that malaria kills more than a million people worldwide each year, 90 percent of them in Africa, 70 percent children under five 2003, including my two-year-old baby girl, called Suwadou Jallow. The effort of the BMRA is applauded under the chairmanship of Ba S Jabbi for their continuous commitment to sustain the annual event.

The fight against malaria should be a key issue for local and national developments. Africans continue to loose their precious and most valuable human resources, because of the scourges of malaria.

What can be done to eradicate malaria in The Gambia, Africa and the rest of the world? I sincerely join the members of the BMRA to call for greater attention on how to eradicate malaria in our beloved community of Brufut.

We hope this year's event will contribute positively to the government's policy in this sphere of life. We call on the international community to support our government in their drive to eradicate malaria in The Gambia.

The Run Against Malaria is scheduled on Saturday 12th December, 2009, starting from the Traffic Light on Kariaba Avenue to Brufut for the male event, while the female race would start at the Brusubi Junction to Brufut, and the cyclists would start at the Traffic Light on Kairaba Avenue via Senegambia to Brikama, Sanyang, Tujereng, Tanji and Brufut Primary School.

All interested participants are kindly requested to report at the starting points on time. There would be good trophies, medals, certificates, cash prizes, as well as bags of rice for a raffle draw. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to our main sponsors the Friends of The Gambia Association and Muhammed Jagana, Manager of J/FIN Money Transfer.