Malaria Awareness Campaign

This entertainment-education (E-E) initiative draws on the observation that engaging comic book characters - as opposed to sometimes boring and didactic brochures - can have a lasting effect on young minds: "Education here occurs via osmosis and the content on malaria is there but not in your face. The goal is to get kids to enjoy it." Having developed the book - available in PDF format by clicking here - Chillibreeze distributed a printed version of the comic book to Class Five students in 3 schools in Shillong, Meghalaya, India, where the company is headquartered. To gauge the effectiveness of the comic book, Chillibreeze staff conducted pre-distribution and post-distribution quizzes with what were intended to be attractive prizes.

Specifically, Chillibreeze staff arrived at each school after prior permission from the principals and talked to the students about the upcoming malaria quiz contest. Students were given 10 minutes to complete a multiple choice quiz; each was then given a copy of the malaria comic book. The students were told that Chillibreeze would be returning soon for the final quiz contest. The best performance would be rewarded with a certificate and a prize. The post-distribution contests were conducted a few days after the day the comics were distributed. "The students showed a visible improvement in their knowledge about Malaria as indicated by their quiz answers."

Chillibreeze is working to ensure wide distribution of "A Tale of Two Magic Potions" at a low cost, and also hopes to translate the book into various Indian languages and to distribute it free of cost at public schools across India, especially in areas with high prevalence of malaria. Volunteer participation is Chillibreeze's strategy; people are asked to:

• send suggestions/ideas for the project and how Chillibreeze can make it self-sustaining;
• spread the word about the book both online and offline (blog about the project, use social networks, etc.);
• help publish articles in the press about the project;
• contact: governments; municipality schools; paediatricians/community health care clinics; non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or corporate organisations to request help with printing and distributing the book;
• help translate the book into one's mother tongue/any Indian language;
• read the book out loud to an underprivileged child; and
• visit "A Tale of Two Magic Potions"' Facebook page to discuss the book and collaborate with other volunteers.

Health, Children, Youth.

According to Dr. Nishi Viswanathan, one of the directors at Chillibreeze, "Though it is essentially a preventable disease, hundreds of people in India die of Malaria. Distributing mosquito nets will help to a certain extent but the long term solution lies in empowering tomorrow's citizens with knowledge. Of course, ours is a small effort and it has just begun..."