Welcome to Buzz Off is an initiative of Australian Relief & Mercy Services (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.