Monday, November 12, 2007

Curing Malaria with Facebook's Help

The New York Times today had an article on Lance Laifer, a hedge fund manager in New Jersey and former Internet entrepreneur, started researching malaria two and a half years ago, a prominent professor with a medical background told him that doctors were not drawn to malaria research because it was a disease of logistics.

Mr. Laifer has inspired people to fast against malaria and to dunk basketballs around the world, using any net available. He recently began a Facebook campaign called “One Million Faces Against Malaria,” trying to show what one million people look like, since at least that many people die every year of malaria. He has also worked with doctors and economists to build health clinics in Africa, create 11 malaria-free zones and develop programs to train child soldiers to become child doctors.