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