Kick Out Malaria

According to the 2021 World Malaria Report: Nearly half the world’s population (approximately 3.7 billion people) lives in areas at risk of malaria transmission in 87 countries and territories. 

And according to the Global Fund’s Eligibility List 2022 for HIV, Malaria, and Tuberculosis, there are over 56 countries in the world with high malaria burden. 

In 2020, malaria caused an estimated 241 million clinical episodes and 627,000 deaths, as obtained from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via the link below: https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/impact.html.

Africa accounts for 95% of all malaria cases and 96% of all malaria deaths.

Nigeria alone has approximately 55 million cases and 207,000 deaths annually.

Kick Out Malaria is a series of storybook apps and computer video games created to help children and families acquire, practice, and retain the crucial knowledge they need to combat malaria and other preventable but deadly diseases in a fun, active, and engaging way.

There are six (6) products under the Kick Out Malaria project as follows:

1) Storybook series namely:

• Kick Out Malaria: Waste Pickup and Disposal.
• Kick out Malaria: Plug the Puddles of Water.
• Kick out Malaria: Clear the Drainage Channels.

2) Computer video game series namely:

• Kick Out Malaria Game 1.
• Kick Out Malaria Game 2.
• Kick Out Malaria Game 3.

 These products target children from age 3 with adult supervision, to age 7 and above with little to no supervision. The storybooks and games are designed to be used together for effectiveness. Our products are currently available in English, but we are making other language editions to reach our target demographic across the world. 

Product Demonstration

1) BOOKS:

• https://bit.ly/KOMalaria1.
• https://bit.ly/KOMalaria2.    
• https://bit.ly/KOMalaria3. 

2) GAMES

1.  https://youtu.be/OE4GheOsQB4.

2.  https://youtu.be/jxWLzE_MAig.

3.  https://youtu.be/4vG0Xc7Dri8.

Our product demo is also available on our website via this link: https://www.leadaleap.com/product-demo. 

Our target beneficiaries and customers are the over 3.7 billion people at risk of malaria transmission in 87 countries and territories. With the global average household members at 4.9 people, that is an estimated 755 million households.

So much has been done to eradicate malaria with over USD $26 billion spent so far as of June 2022 according to the Global Fund, but there have also been reports of progress being stalled and resurgence of malaria infection in many countries of the world. We attribute this occurrence to the lack of proper education on malaria among the population most vulnerable to the disease. This population comprises mostly children and families living in poor rural areas in low- and middle-income countries across the world. Most parents in these poor rural areas do not have any form of formal education themselves, so they tend to listen to and observe what their children who have some level of education say or do. We believe that if these children are well informed and their families are properly carried along, a lot will be achieved in eradicating malaria. This will also ease the heavy burden on the overstretched health sector and ensure that the limited resources are evenly distributed and prudently used to improve the economy of these countries.

Before it was poverty that caused malaria, now it is malaria causing poverty. This is especially true given that billions of dollars are spent yearly on malaria. Eradicating malaria will embolden the people to fight poverty, raise their own standard of living and ensure financial prosperity for themselves, which in turn will provide a conducive, prosperous environment for all.

Knowledge is power. With the Kick Out Malaria project, we are giving power to children and families, and the resources they need to defeat malaria. We are putting children and families at the center as both actors and stakeholders in the fight against malaria and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

One may ask: “What has malaria eradication got to do with storybooks and computer video games?” It is like asking: “What has education got to do with one’s career and personal development?” Education, be it conventional, community-based, or personalized, is the bedrock of thriving and sustainable communities. We put this into consideration in the development and delivery of the Kick Out Malaria project. 

Team:

1) Paul Abayomi Jeremiah, Chief Technical Officer: After graduating from high school in 2003, Paul was chosen to represent his county (Ijebu-North Local Government council) in a training program organized for representatives of the 20 local councils in Ogun state, Nigeria (his state of origin) as a primary health care specialist, a position he held until 2004 when he started a teaching job in Lagos. He worked as an early-grade teacher for 8 years between 2004 and 2012 and authored over 20 storybook titles during the same period to address the inadequacy of supplementary reading materials in the classroom. Some of his book titles were later adopted for use in government/public schools in some parts of Nigeria.

In 2011, Paul founded Wemimo House Enterprises under which he initiated and implemented some social impact ideas and programs, including:

• SOYES - a program that recruited and trained over 1,000 participants, mostly youths, from Lagos local communities on basic computer skills, web presence for their local businesses using Google’s GNBO platform (now defunct), and business development, in partnership with a faith-based organization, from 2011 to 2016.

• 1Skool (aka OneSkool or 1School) - an Apps4Africa 2012 finalist, 1Skool was proposed to build a unified quality learning platform for Africans and the world, from 2012 to 2014.
• Lead-A-Leap (now LEADALEAP Enterprises) - a participant in the Youth in Social Enterprise Conference organized by LEAP Africa and sponsored by Microsoft Nigeria (2013), an After-school Graduate Development Center (AGDC)’s Ignite Idea Contest winner (2015), and a Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF)’s Lagos Innovates workplace voucher beneficiary (2019), Lead-A-Leap started as a project to enhance children’s learning in the classroom and improve their learning outcome through the production and distribution of quality learning materials to early-grade schools.

In recognition of his social development works, he was nominated for some awards, namely:

• Actualidad’s “Platinum Eagle for Prestige and Quality - Europe 2011”.
• Europe Business Assembly’s “Best Enterprise of Europe” and “Best Manager of the Year 2012”.
• Nigerian Top Executives in the Human Resources Industry 2015 Publication and Rating’s “Excellence Award”, in which he was also featured and rated in the top 9 percent of all Nigerian executives based on the company size and international business network strength in a book published by the award organizer.

Paul garnered relevant experiences in the printing industry as a quality control officer while working with a contractor that produced the works of some of Africa’s finest authors. He is a DevOps engineer, and a self-taught computer game developer and graphic designer.

2) Rebecca Amarachi Jeremiah, Chief Executive Officer: Rebecca is a certified project management professional. She worked as an administrative officer at a social enterprise working for children. She is a co-author of numerous titles on child development.

Stakeholders Engagement:

We understand that eradicating malaria in the world requires everyone to be involved. So, we are open to collaborating and working with the MIT Solve community and other development organizations in our target locations.

We also have proposals for government bodies and corporate organizations to get our products and donate them to the less-privileged children and families in their domains and communities where they operate. The proposal documents are accessible via these links: https://bit.ly/KOMSTAKDOCS; https://bit.ly/KOMPRP. 

We have fully-developed minimum viable products (MVP) and are currently seeking USD $150,000 in blended grant and loan or equity financing to procure print-on-demand equipment for the production of our Kick Out Malaria products and to fund our awareness, marketing and distribution activities in Nigeria and other countries with high malaria burden.