April
25
World
Malaria Day
25 April
is a day to commemorate global efforts to control malaria (World
Malaria Day). The theme of the fourth World Malaria Day - 'Achieving
Progress and Impact' - heralds the international community's
renewed efforts make progress towards zero malaria deaths by
2015.
According
to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2009, about 3.3 billion
people - half of the world's population - were at risk of malaria.
Although malaria is preventable and curable, every year, this
leads to about 250 million malaria cases and nearly 800 thousand
deaths. In Africa a child dies every 45 seconds of Malaria,
the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths. People
living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable.
Malaria
is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted
to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
Malaria
can decrease gross domestic product by as much as 1.3% in countries
with high disease rates.
According
to the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, reducing the impact
of malaria is key to the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals, agreed by every United Nations Member State. These include
not only combating the disease itself, but also goals related
to women's and children's rights and health, access to education
and the reduction of extreme poverty.
World
Malaria Day 2011
25 April is a day to commemorate global efforts to
control malaria. The theme of the fourth World Malaria Day -
Achieving Progress and Impact - heralds the international community's
renewed efforts make progress towards zero malaria deaths by
2015.
Malaria
stakeholders will continue to report on the remaining challenges
to reach the 2010 target of universal coverage of malaria treatment
and prevention, as called for by the UN Secretary-General, Ban
Ki-moon.
World Malaria
Day represents a chance for all of us to make a difference.
Whether you are a government, a company, a charity or an individual,
you can roll back malaria and help generate broad gains in health
and human development.
Reducing
the impact of malaria is key to the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals, agreed by every United Nations Member State.
These include not only combating the disease itself, but also
goals related to women's and children's rights and health, access
to education and the reduction of extreme poverty.
Hundreds
of RBM partners - governments, international organizations,
companies, academic and research institutions, foundations,
NGOs and individuals - are already gaining ground against malaria.
Diverse partner initiatives are guided by a single strategy,
outlined in the Global Malaria Action Plan.
Some
of the key challenges in the fight against malaria include:
treating
children with severe malaria – This week WHO updated the guidelines
for the treatment of severe malaria. WHO now recommends parenteral
artesunate as first line treatment in the management of severe
falciparum malaria in african children. The challenge is to
ensure that the changes are implemented.(See update to treatment
guidelines highlight below)
fighting the spread of artemisinin resistance - A major threat
to sustaining malaria control and elimination is the emergence
of malaria parasites that are resistant to artemisinin – the
essential ingredient of artemisinin-based combination therapies
(ACTs) - the most potent weapon in treating falciparum malaria,
the deadliest form malaria
treating pregnant women safely and effectively - trials are
underway to find better and safer treatments, but it takes time
and investment
Key
Statistics
Every 45 seconds, a child dies from malaria. Each of
these deaths is avoidable. Join the world’s largest international
effort to end malaria deaths. Let us celebrate the successes
and ramp up our efforts to meet the challenges.
http://rbm.who.int/worldmalariaday/background.html
Events
404 BC –
Peloponnesian War: Lysander's Spartan Armies defeated the Athenians
and the war ends.
1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the
Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb
Bishopric around 1094.
1607 – Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored
Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming Dynasty
China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li
Zicheng.
1707 – The Habsburg army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa
(Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person
executed by guillotine.
1792 – La Marseillaise (the French national anthem) is composed
by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty
of the Russian Empire
1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast
of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan
River Colony for the United Kingdom.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed
border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.
1847 – The last survivors of the Donner Party are out of the
wilderness.
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the
Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population
and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez
Canal.
1861 – American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington,
D.C.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David
Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New
Orleans, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks' Mills.
1898 – Spanish-American War: The United States declares war
on Spain.
1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile
license plates.
Anzac Beach – Australian and New Zealand forces invade Turkey
1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins—The invasion
of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian, British, French
and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and
Cape Helles.
1916 – Easter Rebellion: The United Kingdom declares martial
law in Ireland.
1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first
anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove.
1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers
of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation
of Class "A" League of Nations mandates for administration
of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad
Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
1939 – DC Comics publishes its second major superhero in Detective
Comics #27; he is Batman, one of the most popular comic book
superheroes of all time.
1943 – The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration
of Demyansk Pocket is instituted.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau
along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany
in two, a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in
Europe.
1945 – The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern
Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance
movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini
tries to escape. This day is taken as symbolic of the Liberation
of Italy.
1945 – Fifty nations gather in San Francisco, California to
begin the United Nations Conference on International Organizations.
1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland's soil in
Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World
War end in Finland.
1953 – Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish "Molecular
Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic
Acid" describing the double helix structure of DNA.
1959 – The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great
Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first
submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
1965 – Teenage sniper Michael Andrew Clark kills three and wounds
six others shooting from a hilltop along Highway 101 just south
of Santa Maria, California.
1966 – The city of Tashkent is destroyed by a huge earthquake.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese
320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat
and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal
overthrows the fascist Estado Novo regime and establishes a
democratic government.
1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese
capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated,
almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop
commitment to South Vietnam.
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during
repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.
1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula
per the Camp David Accords.
1983 – American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit
the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her
letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his
father Sobhuza II.
1988 – In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war
crimes committed in World War II.
2003 – The Human Genome Project comes to an end two and a half
years earlier than expected.
2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to
Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in
1937.
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join
the European Union.
2005 – 107 die in Amagasaki rail crash in Japan.
2007 – Boris Yeltsin's funeral – the first to be sanctioned
by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the
funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
2011 – At least 300 people killed in deadliest tornado outbreak
in the Southern United States since the 1974 Super Outbreak.
Holidays and observances
ANZAC Day
(Australia, New Zealand)
Administrative Professional's Day
Arbor Day (Germany)
Army Day (North Korea)
Christian Feast Day:
The latest possible date for Easter Sunday, last in 1943.
Mark the Evangelist
Philo and Agathopodes
Pope Anianus of Alexandria
April 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
DNA Day
Flag Day (Faroe Islands)
Freedom Day (Portugal)
Malaria Awareness Day (International)
Military Foundation Day (North Korea)
Red Hat Society Day
Robigalia, celebrated on 25 Aprilis. (Roman Empire)
Sinai's Liberation Day (Egypt)
For details, contact Datacentre
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