Stronach, Mercer & Malaria

[August1991]

"Spread the Net is designed to have an impact. It's a simple way for

Canadians to make a concrete difference for African children - to help them in

their fight to survive against malaria", said Belinda Stronach. "When I

visited Africa with Jeffrey Sachs and Rick Mercer last year, I realized that

we had to find a way to educate Canadians about the killer impacts of malaria

and at the same time help them do their own part. This partnership with UNICEF

Canada will enable this to happen, and the contributions of ONE x ONE and the

Montreal Millennium Promise Conference are the first of what I know will be

many large donations and small donations. Through Spread the Net, one $10

bednet can make a difference and 500,000 bednets will help save even more

children."

Link

They want $10 million. Why all this publicity for $10 million? (Why didn't Unicef just use the money collected in the orange boxes at Halloween?)

But most important: Why didn't Mercer and Stronach fly to Nigeria last year and convince a general or two to cough up the money? Nigeria is a major oil producing country and is flush with billions of dollars. If I'm not mistaken, the Nigerian High Commission in London has over a 1000 Nigerian diplomats.

Africa does not need more money. Jeffrey Sachs should know better. As for Mercer and Stronach, this is just a feel-good publicity stunt in the style of Madonna.

[cybercoma]

Dumping more money into Africa...how absurd.

What has happened to the millions upon millions that have been sent since the 70s?

Oh I know....the AIDS rate went up. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound right.

Let me think about this and I'll get back to you.

[geoffrey]

If providing nets for a meager $10mil will save millions of lives, I say go for it, have the government fund it.

The unfortunate part is that it will likely not save millions of lives, and could be done for under $2mil using Canadian Tire misquito net's that were return for cosmetic defects.

[August1991]

If providing nets for a meager $10mil will save millions of lives, I say go for it, have the government fund it.

It won't. This is just PR.

I don't know where to start with this. It's entirely PR driven, even the article below.

Sachs said the "Spread the Net" campaign unveiled by Stronach and Mercer is one of the most innovative private initiatives he's seen to combat malaria. He had a very direct influence in its creation.

Sachs took Stronach and Mercer to a number of African countries a year ago and exposed them to the horrors of impoverished villages where people lived largely unprotected from the bites of malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

The trip had the desired effect: it inspired a billionaire heiress turned politician and a popular satirist to cash in some of their celebrity capital for the cause.

Stronach enlisted a young, edgy PR firm that developed a campaign to appeal to the younger demographic. They developed a simple mantra, "One net, 10 bucks, saves lives," and a lively website, Spreadthenet.org.

Mercer said the campaign was all Stronach's idea. And he didn't hesitate to throw his support behind it.

"It's really something when you go into a village where children are dying of malaria and then you realize, `oh, I've got a bed net, I've got one in the briefcase,"' said an uncharacteristically somber Mercer.

"In your shaving kit, you have more medical supplies than the local clinic. It's a completely humbling, life altering experience."

CanWest

Rick Mercer discovers (in a life altering experience no less) that there is poverty in the world. He didn't know?

Belinda Stronach hires a PR firm to solve a problem in Africa. Why am I suspicious?

We spent more on AIDS in Africa than we spent on malaria. That's surprising to anyone?

In 20 years, we will still be talking about AIDS and malaria in Africa. (Malaria is partly a problem because rich countries banned DDT. I digress.)

And finally, Africans are rich enough to deal with this problem themselves. Nobody in their right mind would make a collection to help Conrad Black with his legal problems.

If Stronach were serious, she would fly to Lagos and get some rich people to contribute to the cause. If she can't or won't do that, I'm going to suspect her motives. This has nothing to do with Africa and alot more to do with Belinda Stronach.

[Canuck E Stan]

This has nothing to do with Africa and alot more to do with Belinda Stronach.

Oh,oh, this might mean Belinda will be bringing home an African baby.