Welcome to Buzz Off is an initiative of ARMS that is designed to help NGOs and small communities better address the impact that Mosquito borne diseases are having on their communities.
Mosquitoes are tiny serial killers! The diseases they carry such as Malaria, Filariasis and Dengue fever are killing millions of people every year. In the case of Malaria up to 2 million people a year die from the disease and according to the World Health Organization, most of its victims are pregnant women or children under the age of 5 years of age.
Filarial worms in humans can cause Lymphatic Filariasis which develops into elephantitis. This highly debilitating disease sees some parts of the body grow to oversized proportions causing its victims pain and discomfort for the rest of their life.
Dengue fever is a flu-like viral disease spread by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is a severe, often fatal, complication of dengue. There are approx 500 million cases of Dengue each year. From these 10% develop into Dengue hemorrhagic fever resulting in up to 50,000 deaths per year.
But mosquitoes are manageable and the diseases they spread are treatable. Death rates can be reduced and the scourge these diseases can be beaten.
With regards to Malaria, there are many contributing factors to this epidemic that sees 300 – 500 million cases a year; however, we can safely say that Malaria has only effectively tightened its grip on the poorer nations of the world. Poverty compounds the depth to which the disease can strike.
Millennium Development Goal 6 focuses on reducing of HIV / AIDS and Malaria by 2015.
The availability of effective medications relies on the availability of the money with which to buy them. Hospitals in the developing world are not coping with the demands that Malaria is putting on their meager resources. Mosquito eradication programs cost money and in some countries there is just not enough money to fund these types of programs.
Buzz Off wants to see what can be done to help small communities to better manage the Mosquito populations that are causing the diseases that are taking away their health and their livelihoods. We believe that Malaria and by extension other Mosquito borne diseases can be beaten if we apply the 5 Buzz Off principles to a community. These principles are;
- Training
- Prevention
- Education
- Quick diagnosis
- Proper treatment
By empowering small NGOs and local communities we can improve Malaria program effectiveness, and lessen the mortality rate at the local level.
We have outlined our plans for Buzz Off in the Buzz Off Charter and accompanying notes which can be down loaded from the Public Library on this site.
NGOs and communities can sign on to the Buzz Off Charter and set achievable goals. They can also track these goals via the Buzz Off website. Through the Buzz Off website they can also share with other signatory organizations resources and information about mosquito borne diseases.
Buzz Off will also do its part by distributing malaria testing kits, impregnated mosquito nets and antimalarial medicines to local communities. We also plan to provide training materials and set up a grants program to fund Malaria programs.
Buzz Off members already have access to more resources and information than those found in the site's Public Library. These extra resources are only found on the members side of the Buzz Off website and include animations, posters and information in multi-lingual formats.
You, your community, or NGO can join Buzz Off online and declare war on mosquitoes and the diseases they spread.
Buzz Off has run a second set of malaria seminars in Yangon. 50 trainees attended the seminars bring the total number of Malaria workers trained by Buzz Off in 2009 to 97.
Buzz Off has been able to distribute over 6700 nets in IDP and remote communities inside Burma. These nets have been paid for by the grant moneys received earlier this year and have been gratefully received.
The Buzz Off inititiative in Burma is seeing thousands of high quality LLIN nets making their way into IDP camps.
Buzz Off has provided funding to equip remote IDP clinics with antimalarials.
Buzz Off is set to distribute 3000 high quality mosquito nets to remote communities inside Burma.
The Buzz Off Malaria seminars recently held in Yangon, Myanmar were a great success. 47 malaria workers were trained some coming form very remote areas in order to attend the seminars. The training took the form of 2 x 3 day Seminars, which were held in different locations around Yangon.
Buzz Off is about to hold its first Malaria training course in Myanmar. The course trains volunteers in malaria based work.
Trained Buzz Off workers go into remote villages to do a needs assessment. The needs assessments are examined and priorities set in order to respond to malaria at the local level.
We have just received news from a partnering agency in Thailand that funds provided by Buzz Off have supplied 363 mosquito nets, 9 boxes of Artesunate tablets, 19 boxes of Artesunate injections, and 10 boxes of Parachecks to remote population centres inside Burma.
The Buzz Off Campaign is about to set up a training program for Malaria workers in Myanmar.
Buzz Off has received significant funding from a generous donor who wishes to remain anonymous, for its malaria work in Burma.
The funding will mean that significant progress can be made in areas of malaria education and training; and thousands of lives will be saved through the provision of mosquito nets, testing kits and antimalarial medication. ARMS wishes to publicly thank this anonymous donor for its generous support.
The Buzz Off 1+1 challenge is a simple way that you can help us to combat Malaria.
Buzz Off is buying antimalarial medication to distribute into poor and under resourced clinics.