Malaria push hones techniques fit for a US president Partners: Coartem maker Novartis backs Malaria No More Campaigners fighting the scourge of mosquitoes are turning to a different sort of flying creature to help tackle one of the world's most lethal diseases. Malaria No More, a US-based charity, has already signed up Twitter and is now talking to the designer behind the video game Angry Birds as it builds its understanding of online media. The move is designed to help it build Power of One, a campaign it will launch in the autumn to persuade consumers to fund life-saving treatments for children in poor countries. By tapping into the growing use of the mobile internet and drawing on web applications developed in politics and commerce, the organisation hopes to influence a younger and web-savvy generation motivated by social causes. Martin Edlund, chief executive of Malaria No More, says it was inspired by US President Barack Obama's successful use of social media in his re-election campaign to build mass support. It also hopes to emulate Amazon's order-tracking services to allow donors to track how their donations are put to use. Free expertise has also been available from advisers such as Allison Johnson, a former executive at Apple, News Corp and Time Warner. The aim of the campaign is to build public support and donations as austerity squeezes government funding for malaria, which kills roughly one child every minute in Africa. The push marks a shift from previous appeals, which have concentrated on providing insecticide-treated bednets to boost prevention. Malaria No More will ask individuals to donate $1 each, which is the cost of a cheap malaria diagnostic and paediatric treatment course. Support will be matched by supplies from the makers of two products, Alere for the diagnostics and Novartis for the drugs. Paul Herrling of Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, says: "We are a major player in malaria . . . Teaming up allows us to reach even more patients. The charity conducted focus groups to test reactions towards a new campaign based on a lower-cost, treatment-based push alongside prevention. "When people understood that malaria was one of the top killers of children, they were very responsive," says Mr Edlund. Twitter is developing a new technology to support the campaign and may even support a year-end campaign on malaria. Malaria No More is also working on how contributors can follow the effect their dollar will have on the children who can then be treated. Mobile technology is already helping transform the management of malaria in the developing world, with text messaging deployed in countries such as Tanzania to monitor both the incidence of the disease and the local availability of drugs to treat it. "There is a mobile revolution on the ground in Africa," says Mr Edlund. The question is how we can harness the power and create something digital. Our goal is to make this as ubiquitous and easy as possible. He adds: "We've got a significant global funding gap to fill of $3.6bn. Malaria is one of the best humanitarian investments we can make in the world. We want to create a $1 opportunity that is as ubiquitous and as frictionless as possible. Malaria No More has also been helped by media partners and adverts by HBO, the US cable television channel, to promote the film Mary and Martha about the impact of malaria. The film's trailer has had more than 220,000 views on YouTube. Still open to question, however, is how effectively the Power of One will be able to stand out in a crowded online arena that is potentially already saturated with charitable appeals - and particularly to generate new interest in malaria, a field in which donors are attuned to helping to buy bednets.