Malaria - a curable disease - kills 3,000 children in Africa daily.

Others bitten by malaria-infected mosquitoes lose time from school and work - pushing them deeper into poverty.

Because the symptoms of malaria can be mild at first, they are often mistaken for influenza. For this reason, seeking treatment is too often delayed and parents may not recognize the symptoms until they, or their children become anaemic, malnourished or go into convulsions.

To combat malaria, CCFC and its partners, teach community leaders and parent committees how to detect early symptoms of the disease, and prevent death. Communities are taught about the connection between stagnant water and the increased breeding of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Community environmental clean-ups are undertaken to remove garbage, standing water and weeds around homes.

The community is encouraged to construct soak-away pits or dry basins to help dispose of household grey-water (which is wastewater generated from processes such as washing dishes, laundry and bathing). This prevents mosquitoes from breeding near living spaces and schools where children are especially susceptible.

With your help, CCFC helps children, their families and their poverty-stricken communities live healthy, productive lives.

CCFC effectively employs a combination of community education, anti-malarial medicine, in-home net protection, environmental clean-up and insecticide spray to keep families safe from the dangers of malaria.

In 2003, CCFC sponsored the implementation of the IDT technique (Insecticide Drug Timing) to control malaria in seven heavily populated communities in Ghana.

A one-dose, anti-malarial drug was given to two-year olds to reduce the number of carriers. So, if the babies were bitten, the mosquito would not be able to ingest, and transfer the malaria parasite to another person.

In addition, homes built of large, round, mud walls, with thatched roofs, were sprayed with synthetic pyrethroidal insecticide (Deltamethrin). The insecticide was diluted to prolong the residual-mosquito-killing effect for six to nine months - lasting the entire rainy season.

At the end of the six to nine month period, malaria cases dropped by an average of 80 percent in children and adults living in the IDT pilot area.

CCFC aims to strengthen its current anti-malaria efforts by increasing the number of insecticide-treated bed nets made available to CCFC-sponsored children and their families.

Insecticide-treated bed nets are known to be an effective, environmentally-safe way of controlling malaria, yet for most families in impoverished communities, bed nets are a luxury they can't afford. Putting food on the table is more important.

That's why we need your support.

Children need your support, so they can sleep without fear of waking with a fever, headache and joint pain. They need to sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net provided by Canadians who care.