The United Methodist Church (UMC) is challenging the public to imagine a world without malaria, opening a $75 million appeal to curb the deadly disease in Africa by 2015.

The new campaign was launched yesterday with a special event in Austin, Texas in observance of World Malaria Day. Grammy-award winning group Jars of Clay provided the entertainment.

"It is very easy for us to say 'imagine no malaria' and then go eat a normal meal or 'imagine no malaria' and go to sleep at night and not think about it," said Bishop Thomas Bickerton, chair of the Imagine No Malaria campaign. "But here in Africa there is no time; the time is now. These children are dying; we have seen them."

The UMC's new effort builds upon the group's 2006 campaign Nothing but Nets, which sought to deliver bed nets to African families for protection against mosquitoes, which are the most common carriers of the malaria disease.

Since then, the group says they've learned that one net per family is not enough. Current efforts are aimed at providing at least three of the protective nets to each household.

To strengthen the campaign's reach, the UMC has partnered with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which has committed over $19 billion dollars to fight deadly diseases.

"It is no longer possible in a global environment for The United Methodist Church to assume it can address all the problems that exist," said the Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive of United Methodist Communications. "But by partnering with others, we can scale up to such a degree that we can address problems on a wide scale."

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that while significant progress has been made against the disease, which affects an estimated 250 million people around the world every year, vigilance must be the order of the day against a tenacious, ever-changing foe.

"Since 2003, international commitments for malaria control have increased more than five-fold to $1.7 billion in 2009," Ban said. "Though still far short of what is required, these funds have supported a dramatic expansion of malaria control interventions."

Ban noted that countries that could provide bed nets and treatment to significant proportions of their people had seen malaria cases and deaths fall by as much as 50 per cent, as well as an overall drop in child mortality rates.

"But our optimism must also be leavened with caution," Ban warned. "Malaria is a tenacious foe. To sustain current gains we must be vigilant."

Last year, the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) discovered a new form of the disease along the border between Cambodia and Thailand that is resistant to current treatments. A potentially serious obstacle to success in controlling malaria, Ban called on the world community to help in finding a solution for the new virus.

"The global campaign against malaria has shown what is possible when the international community joins forces on multiple fronts to tackle a disease that takes its heaviest toll on poor and underprivileged populations," Ban said.

"Strong commitment has sparked innovation: creative initiatives have facilitated the delivery of massive numbers of mosquito nets ground-breaking partnerships are developing new malaria medicines and making existing medicines more accessible and affordable," he continued.

"The challenge now is to ensure that all who are exposed to malaria can receive quality-assured diagnosis and treatment. The advances of recent years show that the battle against malaria can be won."