Ashton Kutcher held true to his promise of supplying 10,000 malaria nets for Malaria No More.  In 2009 Ashton Kutcher and CNN were battling to reach one million followers on Twitter. Kutcher promised that if he won, he would donate 10,000 nets to Malaria No More.  The campaign generated a lot of media attention boosting awareness of Twitter and of the need for bed nets.  Thanks to the Twitter campaign, 89,724 malaria nets were purchased and will be distributed this year.

The launch of the program on World Malaria Day 2009 led to the most retweeted message: “Every 30 seconds a child dies from Malaria. Nets save lives. Support World Malaria Day = http://www.malarianomore.org/.”  Other celebrities which jointed the fight to end malaria included Anderson Cooper, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Ryan Seacrest and Oprah.

The nets will be circulated in two towns in Senegal and given to individuals who need them the most, like children and pregnant women.  The strcuture of this campaign is now being used for relief efforts in Haiti and could become a standard fundraising practice. Malaria No More is proud to be a trail blazer and is thankful for all the support.  Be on the lookout for another campaign beginning on World Malaria Day in 2010!

Ashton Kutcher and Sean Combs (P. Diddy) used their immense celebrity to highlight the malaria cause. 

The annual who’s-who of glamorous celebrities and leaders in fashion and culture will also serve to show what’s what in the global effort to end malaria deaths. Sean Combs is teaming up with Ashton Kutcher, Malaria No More supporter and Twitterer Extraordinaire, to co-host the party and raise awareness about Malaria No More and how each and every person can help shine a spotlight on malaria in Africa.

To help raise awareness and funds for the cause, Combs’ Sean John fashion label will produce and sell a limited edition White Party t-shirt with the slogan “Celebrate Life: End Malaria”. With every purchase, Sean John will donate two life-saving mosquito nets to help families in Africa protect themselves from malaria.  You can see more and purchase one of the shirts at http://www.seanjohn.com/malarianomore/

We at Malaria No More and the Malaria Policy Center are so appreciative of both Ashton Kutcher and Sean Combs for lending their celebrity and time for such an important cause.

See Ashton Kutcher’s call for an end to malaria here.

Ashton Kutcher (of ‘Dude Where’s my Car?’ Fame)  continued his one man domination of Twitter by beating CNN to one million followers.  As a celebration of his victory, Ashton has pledged to send 10,000 bednets to Malaria No More to help fight malaria in Africa.  Oprah, Ryan Seacrest, CNN, and Electronic arts have also joined the cause by making commitments to buy bednets of their own.  New media, like Twitter, provide a unique opportunity to reach a broad audience of people.  Ashton Kutcher has used this opportunity and his celebrity to raise awareness about malaria.  For that, we at the Malaria Policy Center thank him.  The vulnerable people in this world need champions like Ashton to rally support.  This support will be needed if we are going to reach our goal of universal access to malaria interventions by December 31, 2010.   

 See Ashton cross the million mark at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1394392.

All you need is 140 characters and the hope that we can end malaria deaths in Africa. You can turn Twitter into a advocacy machine reminding the world that we must work to end the scourge of malaria.

Ashton Kutcher is proving that this is true as he spent a day this week creating anticipation for World Malaria Day and forcing those in the malaria community that new tools can make a big difference in raising awareness.

Kutcher, of “That 70′s Show” fame, is an avid user of the social micro-blogging site, Twitter, and followers of his page can keep up with everything from chest-hair waxing to how his wife used Twitter to prevent a suicide. Kutcher is among a group of celebrities that are finding web technologies are a convienient way around the poparazzi and a great way to support important causes, like the fight against malaria.

On World Malaria Day, April 25, Kutcher is asking everyone on Twitter to post ‘Every 30 seconds a child dies from Malaria. Nets save lives. Support World Malaria Day.’ This is a great way to empower an entire market of people to buy a simple bed net and help spread the word of efforts to defeat malaria.

You can follow the Policy Center on Twitter as we follow Ashton!