If you follow Andy Murray on Twitter, you got this “tweet” on Monday morning:
Yeah, sure beats the typical “woke up, took shower” doesn’t it? Turns out that Andy Murray was meeting soccer star David Beckham, Sydney Olympic Gold medalist Denise Lewis (Heptathlon) and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Number 10 Downing Street for the U.K. launch of Malaria No More, a charity “committed to ending suffering and death caused by malaria.”
And no, No. 10 isn’t undergoing renovation – that green sheet over the door is a malaria net, one of the simplest, cheapest and most effective ways of preventing a disease that kills one child in Africa every 30 seconds. The photo op was a public way to “remind” Prime Minister Brown of Britain’s promise to send 20 million malaria nets to Africa by the year 2010.
Here they are inside No. 10, doing their “reminding”:
Per David Beckham: “It’s truly incredible to think we can stop this killer disease forever and it’s such a simple thing to do. For less than the cost of a football you can protect a family from dying. I urge the UK public to get behind the Malaria No More UK campaign to save a life and make malaria no more.”
Andy Murray is excited to be involved: “This is the first global charity I’ve been involved with in this capacity and it was an easy decision. Malaria is completely preventable and stoppable but yet it still kills more children in Africa than any other single disease. We can radically change this, it is a huge opportunity and I’m urging the UK public to help save a life and get behind Malaria No More UK, a truly world-changing and life-saving initiative.”
Denise Lewis says, “As a mother of three, finding out that pregnant women are four times more likely to contract malaria than other adults, well that really hits home. Here in the UK, malaria is not something an expecting mother needs to worry about. It shouldn’t be in Africa either, especially since malaria is a preventable disease. It’s so easy for us to make a massive difference. Buying a £5 bed net will protect a mother and her child for up to five years. The time has come for us to work together to make malaria no more.”
It’s obviously a worthy cause and it’s great for Andy Murray to be involved in such a visible way. (Stateside, Ashton Kutcher celebrated his race to a million Twitter followers by writing a $100,000 check to Maleria No More.)
Here’s Andy’s own Twitter appeal:
I’ll help Andy out: Click here for more on Murray’s event for Maleria No More, and here for the charity’s home page (choose your country). You can even make donations online, if you are so inclined/inspired.
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