Malaria Meeting with Tony Blair

Did you know Malaria kills 800 Nigerian children every day?

Nigeria is home to Africa's heaviest Malaria burden, where Bishop Sunday Onuoha is now heading up the Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA), a national effort to mobilize all faith communities against the disease.

In addition to his work with Vision Africa and the Nigerian Methodist Church, Bishop Sunday continues to spearhead this ground-breaking effort to bring Christians and Muslims together to end the scourge of Malaria in Africa’s most populous country.

Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Bishop Dr. Sunday Onuoha and Ed Scott, founder of the Center for Interfaith Action

In February, Bishop Sunday hosted former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair as he shared his support for the Bishop’s faith-based anti-malaria work. Mr. Blair heads his own foundation to encourage faith-based solutions to common problems and his participation brought a great deal of international news coverage of the event.

“It is fantastic to see the great training work being carried out by NIFAA. It is the work of Muslim and Christian faith leaders on the ground in Nigeria - multi-faith collaboration about shared goals - that is at the heart of the work of my Faith Foundation. When faith communities collaborate and work together for justice and human development there is a double pay off: things get done and respect and understanding between them grows. I hope that this work will be replicated in other parts of the developing world.”

-Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, founder and patron of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation

More recently, Bishop Sunday visited Akwa Ibom, an important oil producing southern state of Nigeria, to lead a very serious effort to educate faith leaders on malaria. With training, these Christian and Muslim faith leaders will become foot soldiers in the country's battle against the disease.

Armed with the latest information and tools for preventing and treating Malaria, these faith leaders will help to distribute life-saving bed nets and combat dangerous ignorance about the cause and treatment of the illness.

The faith-based strategy relies on the trusted relationships of religious leaders who can spur their communities and the grassroots into positive action.