Jean and Steve Case, Jack Dorsey, Bill Gates, MC Hammer, Kim Kardashian, Jason Mraz, Shaquille O'Neal, General Colin L. Powell, Queen Rania of Jordan, Jordin Sparks, and Pete Wentz Join the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria's Social Media Envoy Group

Additional New Media Luminaries Sign On to Activate Social Media Audiences in Support of Malaria Control, Raising Awareness and Funds for the Remaining 50 Million Bed Net Gap

News provided by

United Nations Secretary - General’s Special Envoy for Malaria

Apr 21, 2010, 08:38 ET

NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- (Office of Special Envoy) – Today, United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, announced an expansion of the Social Media Envoy group in advance of World Malaria Day on April 25, 2010.  The Social Media Envoy group is chartered with inspiring and activating social media audiences throughout the year in support of malaria control. In 2008, the United Nations Secretary-General established the dual goals of providing all those at risk of malaria with malaria control interventions by December 31, 2010, with the ultimate goal of ending malaria deaths by 2015.

At present 200 million mosquito bed nets have been delivered across sub-Saharan Africa, affording protection to half of the world's population at risk of malaria.  Currently, 100 million more bed nets are in the process of being produced and delivered, leaving a 50 million bed net gap to meet the United Nations Secretary-General's goal of universal coverage by year's end.  The Social Media Envoys are dedicated to utilizing their social profile to keep online and offline media audiences focused on the movement, milestones and resources required to achieve the Secretary-General's goal of providing all endemic African countries with malaria control interventions by the end of 2010. 

"We are energized by the expansion of the Social Media Envoy group.  With the participation of additional new media luminaries, the user driven syndication of our online message platform has doubled in reach," said Ray Chambers, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria.  "Moving into World Malaria Day on April 25, we are thrilled to have social media's most prominent voices leading this consciousness-raising and movement building effort to end Malaria."

The Social Media Envoys have agreed to take one social action, such as a tweet on Twitter or wall post on Facebook, in support of malaria control each month for 12 consecutive months.  Individuals interacting within these dynamic social media spaces will be asked to support the movement to end Malaria deaths by donating funds to UNICEF through the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.  The first organized social action from this group will take place on World Malaria Day, April 25, 2010.  The Social Media Envoys have been selected by the Special Envoy for Malaria due to the influence, size and engagement of their Social Web and broadcast audiences.

"To achieve our malaria-related objectives, such as universal bed net coverage by the end of this year, we cannot accept business as usual – or communication as usual," added United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "The Social Media Envoys are showing how new media can help to end malaria deaths and energize our work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and build a better world for all."

The expanded list of 2010 Social Media Envoys include:

Sub-Saharan Africa is the epicenter of the world's malaria control activities, with over 90 per cent of malaria deaths occurring on the continent.  Over 190 million long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets have been delivered since 2007, covering nearly 400 million people or over 50 per cent of the endemic population, compared to less than 10 per cent in 2005. For more information on the Office of the Special Envoy, visit http://www.malariaenvoy.com/

EDITORS NOTES AND LINKS:

DAILYBOOTH - Simply put, DailyBooth is "Your Life in Pictures".  This community of self expression connects people to their friends in real-time through the use of photo updates and photo comments.

FACEBOOK – Malaria Envoy Fan Page = www.facebook.com/malariaenvoy

TWEETMIXX - TweetMixx is a comprehensive social media platform that enables companies and brands to organize social media around a set of specific topics.  TweetMixx analyzes the stream of social media chatter, including links to news, video clips, and images, and extracts the most relevant, popular data.

  • TweetMixx is home to the Malaria Envoy portal that reflects real time content streams from the Social Media Envoy group.  At the following URL (http://www.tweetmixx.com/malariaenvoy), Malaria-related conversations are reflected in context.  The TweetMixx widget enables the conversation to be ported to any site on the web.

TWITTER – Malaria Envoy Twitter Profile = http://twitter.com/malaria_envoy

YOUTUBE – Social Media Envoy Video (iJustine) = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5lg6Cu5GUI

SOURCE United Nations Secretary - General’s Special Envoy for Malaria

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