When news reached us that our good friend, Cheryl Tweedy had contracted malaria last week, we were absolutely shocked. It’s only a short time ago that she, along with eight of her celebrity friends, completed a grueling physical challenge to raise money for Comic Relief to buy and distribute malaria nets – the first step in preventing families and children in Africa from contracting this deadly disease.

Cheryl did an amazing thing when she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro last year, and she knows what a devastating effect malaria can have on anyone who catches it – especially for those children and families living in poor countries where they have no access to healthcare.

Thanks to Cheryl and the team’s huge fundraising efforts, Comic Relief has been able to distribute thousands of malaria nets, helping to save lives and prevent many children from contracting the disease.

We’re also part of the United Against Malaria coalition which helps to raise awareness of malaria and get political support to eradicate this deadly, yet easily preventable, disease that still kills over 2,000 children in Africa every single day.

We’ve set up an online petition called Sign the Ball where you can make your voice heard by joining us in calling for an end to malaria.

And in the meantime, while we do whatever it takes to tackle malaria head on, we wish Cheryl a very speedy recovery.

http://unitedagainstmalaria.org/