Jonah Hill Joins 'Nothing But Nets' Grassroots Campaign to Fight Malaria in Africa

This week, actor and comedian Jonah Hill is celebrating his birthday by asking his fans and supporters to send life-saving bed nets to refugees in the Horn of Africa through the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets-a global, grassroots campaign to fight malaria in Africa. As part of a new contest on fundraising site Crowdrise.com, Hill is competing against 11 other celebrities to raise money for their chosen charities. The Mozilla Corporation, hosts of the Firefox web browser, will award $25,000 to the charity to raise the most by January 11, 2012.

Hill commented: "I'm turning 28 and I'm excited about it. I'm excited to ask people to be extra nice to me and celebrate with friends. I'm really excited to peer pressure all my friends into buying me a gift. I want everyone to dig deep into their pockets and cough up $10. $10 sends a bed net to kids in Africa. I hate mosquitoes. I hate malaria more. I love birthdays and I love anyone who donates $10 for my birthday. If you donate $30 I will love you three times as much."

Every 60 seconds, a child in Africa dies from malaria, a disease spread by a single mosquito bite. Since 2006, the Nothing But Nets campaign has been working with celebrities, corporate partners, and hundreds of thousands of grassroots supporters to raise awareness and funding to save lives from malaria.

"We're truly grateful to Jonah Hill for choosing to champion Nothing But Nets in this contest on Crowdrise," said Chris Helfrich, Director of Nothing But Nets. "Malaria is a leading cause of death among refugees and hundreds of thousands of families in the Horn of Africa need our help immediately. With Jonah's help, this contest is raising money and awareness to help these families as quickly as possible."

Supporters who donate to Nothing But Nets during this contest can win an autographed "Buzzkill" t-shirt-the Campaign's staple-as well as an opportunity to have Jonah Hill record the outgoing message on their voicemail. "Crowdrise is about giving back, raising tons of money for life-saving charities like Nothing But Nets, and having the most fun in the world while doing it," added film producer and Crowdrise founder Shauna Robertson.

Anyone can join the fight against malaria with a $10 donation. Nothing But Nets uses 100 percent of each donation to purchase a net, deliver it to a family, and educate communities on its importance and proper use.

Join @JonahHill to send a net & save a life with @NothingButNets on @Crowdrise at http://bit.ly/rR2Lws.

In Africa, every 60 seconds, a child dies from malaria, which is easily prevented through the use of an insecticide-treated net. The nets create a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of malaria transmissions occur, and are the most cost-effective method of preventing the spread of the disease.

Bed nets work: according to The World Health Organization, 96 percent of those with access to a bed net use it, and malaria mortality rates have dropped by more than 33 percent in Africa since 2000.

To date, Nothing But Nets has raised nearly $40 million to distribute more than 6 million nets to families throughout Africa. For more information, please visit www.NothingButNets.net.

Nothing But Nets is a global, grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a leading killer of children in Africa. Inspired by sports columnist Rick Reilly, hundreds of thousands of people have joined the campaign that was created by the United Nations Foundation in 2006. Campaign partners include the National Basketball Association's NBA Cares, The people of The United Methodist Church, and Major League Soccer's MLS W.O.R.K.S. It only costs $10 to provide an insecticide-treated bed net that can prevent this deadly disease. Visit www.NothingButNets.net to send a net and save a life.

The United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner's historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. We build and implement public/private partnerships to address the world's most pressing problems, and work to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach. Through our campaigns and partnerships, we connect people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. These campaigns focus on reducing child mortality, empowering women and girls, creating a new energy future, securing peace and human rights, and promoting technology innovation to improve health outcomes. These solutions are helping the UN advance the eight global targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org.