In the summer of 2010, United Airlines launched its first flight to Africa, opening direct service from Washington DC to Accra, Ghana. To mark their maiden voyage, United used its plane to help deliver more than 1,000 mosquito nets to families in rural Ghana and signaled their commitment to the global race to end malaria deaths.

On board the June 20^th maiden voyage were Ghana Ambassador to the United States, the Honorable Daniel Ohene Agyekum and platinum recording artist and American Idol finalist Elliot Yamin, who took part in a community visit to Berekuso, a village that will receive a portion of the United Airlines-donated nets. In addition, the community of Ashitey Akomfra and two hospitals, including Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital, the only children’s hospital in the country will receive donated nets.

Under the leadership of Dr. Constance Bart-Plange, Director of the National Malaria Control Program, Ghana is making tremendous progress in malaria control. With a focused effort on prevention, rapid diagnosis and treatment, the country is working to decrease the disease burden by 75 percent by the year 2015.

Malaria No More UK and NetsforLife® recently partnered in Ghana to distribute nearly one million nets to children and pregnant women in the Northern and Eastern regions of Ghana. Joining in this effort is long time partner of Malaria No More and leader in the fight against malaria in Africa, ExxonMobil, which contributed mosquito nets for the inaugural flight to Ghana.