July 2025 Newsletter

A WONDERFUL WEEK IN CALGARY

A Letter from Your Chair

Over 15,000 folks from more than 140 countries gathered in Calgary for the Rotary International Convention (RICON). The day before the convention, RAM-Global helped sponsor the GMEC.org or Global Malaria Eradication Conference. This one-day meeting, devoted to malaria education and Rotary projects, spotlighted the many Rotary efforts aimed at malaria elimination.

We are extremely appreciative to all who participated in the Global Malaria Eradication Conference in Calgary.  The speaker list was superlative, the sessions were highly educational and urgently expressed the needs to be creative in finding malaria funding for eradication efforts, filling the gaps and most importantly, boots on the ground work in so many highly endemic countries.

At the House of Friendship, there was excellent foot traffic at our booth, where many new members were signed up and told about our activities, grants and efforts to fight malaria on all fronts.

Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) was well attended both in-person and virtually. Our Annual Report was delivered along with committee reports resulting in an excellent question and answers discussion. All in all, it was a robust and wonderful interaction amongst Rotarians and others who attended.

At the AGM in Calgary, we approved and voted on the new Board. Next month, we will have the full listing with bios and photos.

In addition, we held a Special Malaria Lecture, to allow RICON participants a chance to interact with experts in malaria prevention, including significant Q&A.

Rotarians Against Malaria-Global Rotary Action Group (RAM-Global) is interested tackling the pressing challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as we bring malaria cases closer to zero. We had a gathering with leadership from Malaria Partners International (MPI), and Australian Rotarians Against Malaria (ARAM) in Calgary. We look forward to further discussions.

We’ve already glimpsed the power of joint efforts with GMEC.org, and we’re hopeful that we can provide a number of modules showcasing the activities at GMEC in the coming months. As a key speaker, and the inventor of R21 malaria vaccine, Sir Adrian Hill, noted:

         “My congratulations on an exceptional meeting! It was pitched at just the right level and the audience engagement was exceptional. I do hope Rotary will continue to take the lead in organizing such events to mark progress towards malaria elimination.”

Together, we hope to create innovative strategies and effective solutions that advance our mutual objectives in the fight against malaria.  United in our mission, we will celebrate our successes together.

Thank you,

Dan Perlman

Chair, Rotarians Against Malaria-Global Rotary Action Group (RAM-G)

All Africa Night in Calgary!

While at the convention, there’s an amazing and fun annual special dinner which brings together Africans and others from across the globe. Over 300 attendees witnessed the launch of the MALARIA ONE FUND, as Dan Perlman and Drake Zimmerman presented a check to the Rotary Foundation for $100,000. Recipients of the check were Holger Knaack, Incoming Chair of The Rotary Foundation, and Mark Maloney, Outgoing TRF Chair.

Dan Perlman gave this caveat: “Like a tiny baobab seed, which is barely 4mm in size, we will nurture this seed fund into a mighty baobab tree. A tree that can store over 140,000 liters of water, and can live 2500 years. Likewise, we will be cultivating a resilient ecosystem for malaria prevention funds that will stand strong for generations.”