Most people in the U.S. won’t go to the Central African Republic (CAR) in their lifetime, and thankfully they won’t get malaria either. But thanks to the wonders of social media, people everywhere donated to a campaign to protect people in CAR from this deadly disease.

The campaign, led by the United Nations Foundation and PSI, aimed to deliver 837,000 nets – one for every family who needs one – by the end of 2010.

The increasing optimism surrounding malaria control has closely paralleled the development of new technologies to prevent and treat the disease. One of the best examples of this has been the development of mosquito net technology, which now forms the cornerstone of the Roll Back Malaria initiative.

Netting has been used to protect people from mosquitoes for centuries. However, due to their fragile material and the fact that mosquitoes can still bite through the untreated netting, conventional nets have never been a central tool of malaria control programs.