Malaria is the world’s oldest and deadliest disease and kills a child every two minutes. But it is both preventable and curable.

In 2020 the case for action became even more critical with predictions by the World Health Organisation that the COVID-19 pandemic could cause deaths related to malaria to double.

Whilst the Commonwealth leaders have committed to halve the number of cases by 2023, attitudes to malaria have become normalised both internationally and within the communities directly affected. To show that Malaria was anything but normal, urgent action was needed.

Malaria No More asked us to create a way to reach a pan African audience to pressure world leaders to put Malaria back on the political agenda - to make sure they will be the last generation to ever see Malaria.

Draw The Line Against Malaria is a movement led by the generation that will end malaria.

To end Malaria, African youth needed to demand action from heads of state. But growing up with Malaria as an inevitable fact of life had made youth lose hope in a malaria-free future. To bring this hope back, we made the mission of ending Malaria part of African youth culture

To tap into African culture, we partnered with renowned Nigerian Artist and Activist Laolu Sebanjo. Together we created a modular line pattern that would represent our movement. The Muundo combines traditional line art with technology to create a collective artwork that demands a malaria free future from world leaders.

We built the movement line by line. Inviting celebrities, influencers and digital african youth to add their own line to a digital platform and facefilter, turning the pattern into a collective statement against malaria.

With 60% of the population under 25 years old Africa has the youngest population in the world and was a generation that had lost hope in a malaria free future.

This made us realise that we needed to create a youth movement to effectively drive the much needed political action.

To engage African digital youth in the fight against malaria we injected the conversation into the youth culture. Africa has become a powerful cultural voice with strong cultural leaders, so we asked them to lead the movement with the generation that will end malaria.

We created a visual language that allowed everyone to add their line to a collective message: The Muundo. The messages were further personalised with a modular headline: “Malaria, we’re too _____ for you”. The Muundo informed every element of this movement.

– A film was launched that invited African youth to join our movement. The film featured cultural leaders Eliud Kipchoge, Omotola Ekeinde, Sherry Silver and Siya Kolisi.

– A fashion capsule collection created with Nigerian streetwear label I N Official helped us to get the message out on the streets and the feeds.

– The animation film narrated by Grammy award singer Yemi Alade told the full story of the Muundo from its original use to the global collective artwork.

– The online platform allowed everyone to personalise their message and add it to a collective mural.

– A face filter on instagram and facebook, launched in partnership with 50 African influencers, enabled digital youth to wear the Muundo as a face mask.

– A PR, influencer and ambassador strategy ensured that it was visible across social media, outdoor, global and african news channels.

This was not about raising funds. We wanted to raise the voice of a generation in a way that could not be neglected. We realised over 1.4 billion impressions and over 3 million dollars in free media space, generating over 7.5 million video views and over 2 million site visits. The digital platform, facefilter and social influencer strategy generated 35.7 million campaign engagements. We were featured on BBC, CNN, CNBC, Al Jazeera, SKY, MTV, Nickelodeon and more.

The campaign inspired a generation to believe in a future without malaria – 69% of youth surveyed believe that malaria can be eliminated in their country. Over 500 governments and NGOs leveraged the campaign on World Malaria Day, creating a global call to end malaria. We will deliver the results in a speech at