Multi-award winning media personality Bonang Matheba is a girl on a roll, Mzansi's mo’ghel has bagged an international campaign in the fight against Malaria, alongside former soccer player and malaria champion David Beckham.
Queen B joins a star-studded cast of change makers, such as afro-pop singer and actress Yemi Alade, FC Barcelona striker Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Kenyan Olympic running champion Faith Kipyegon, and Kenyana marathon world record-holder Eliud Kipchoge, in the launch of the second chapter of the multi-award-winning “Draw the Line Against Malaria” campaign.
The latest World Malaria Report figures show that disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to an additional 47 000 malaria deaths, between 2019 and 2020, with a total of 627 000 lives lost to malaria in 2020 – the highest number in nearly a decade.
Taking to her social media platforms, Bonang shared a clip of the campaign and she remarked about how “proud” she was to be a part of a campaign helping create a future that is free from malaria.
“I’m so proud to be a part of this campaign to help create a future Africa that is free from malaria. This is a campaign that speaks to young people – who have had their futures held back by this deadly disease,” she wrote on Instagram.
The video for the “Draw The Line” campaign is spearheaded by filmmaker, director, photographer and producer Meji Alabi, who co-directed Beyonce's visual album “Black Is King”.
In a media statement, Bonang said: “Supporting this campaign is about creating an African future that is free of malaria. I’m passionate about raising up and enabling the leaders of tomorrow, especially young people across Africa, whose futures have been held back by malaria.
“We know this is a winnable fight – my home country, South Africa is, edging ever closer to eliminating this preventable disease. Let’s take our voices to the Kigali summit on malaria and NTDs in June, and the Global Fund replenishment in September, and show leaders we must draw the line against malaria,” she said.
The “Draw The Line” short film will be rolled out on channels and platforms across the world, including being showcased at the Paramount/MTV Africa Day Concert on Sunday, May 28, in Johannesburg, ahead of the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases, being held on the eve of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), in Rwanda, on June 23.