Nigerian athletes at the Sydney Olympics are backing a global movement to tackle malaria - a preventable but often fatal disease that affects Nigeria and 90 other countries around the world.

Sprinter Mercy Nku, who starts her Olympic campaign in the 100 metres tomorrow (Friday) called on more people to support Roll Back Malaria.

She says: "Malaria is a real problem in Nigeria. More needs to be done to tackle it and save the lives of our children. As athletes our challenge is to take home a medal - the challenge for many people in Nigeria is survival."

Most adults in Nigeria will have had the killer disease at some point in their lives. The disease kills more than one million people a year world wide and more than 300 million fall sick with malaria. Pregnant women and children under five years of age are most at risk.

Recognising that malaria is often overlooked by the international community, the Nigerian athletes are backing Roll Back Malaria - a global partnership which aims to halve malaria deaths by the year 2010. The Federal Government of Nigeria is also part of the partnership.

Support from the team will help raise the profile of the disease internationally and ensure that information about how best to prevent the disease is communicated to those affected.

Nigeria's Olympic chief of mission, Fidelis Kaigama, Permanent Secretary for the Federal Ministry of Sports and Social Development, says: "We are distressed by malaria in Africa, it kills so many of our children . We need to ensure we roll back malaria from our countries.

"Nigerian athletes are happy to support Roll Back Malaria. It is important that the world recognizes the additional problems we face in countries like Nigeria. Malaria is a fact of life for our people but it should not have to be."

As well as devastating lives malaria also affects a country's economic potential as it keeps adults away from work and children away from school.

Roll Back Malaria was set up by the World Health Organization and other partners in 1998 at the request of African countries, led by Nigeria, as they searched for increased progress in stemming the effects of the disease.

The Roll Back Malaria movement draws up from a wide range of partners including United Nations Agencies, Governments, development banks, bilateral development agencies, non-governmental organisations, civil society and individuals - Olympic athletes from Tanzania, Ethiopia, South Africa and Senegal are already part of Roll Back Malaria.

Roll Back Malaria seeks to increase the numbers of people with access to effective malaria interventions, improving both prevention and treatment and also supporting research into better drugs and a possible vaccine. It aims to halve malaria deaths by 2010.

Nigeria has played a lead role in establishing the massive global Roll Back Malaria movement. In April the country hosted the first summit meeting on malaria. Nineteen heads of state and 44 countries attended and signed up to ambitious plans to curb the disease and its negative impact on health and poverty.

Malaria can be prevented by the use of mosquito nets or by taking anti-malarial drugs - a method familiar to many travellers from non malarious countries but impractical to those who live in malarious regions.

Roll Back Malaria hopes to involve Nigerian Olympic athletes in plans for the first Africa Malaria Day on April 25 2001.

"It is only fitting that Nigeria should be a main focus for the first Africa Malaria Day after taking such an active role in getting the movement started and then by increasing its momentum," said Dr Awash Teklehaimanot, project manager a.i. for Roll Back Malaria at the World Health Organization.

You can find out more about getting involved in Roll Back Malaria by visiting the website: www.rbm.who.int

Further information:

Roll Back Malaria media officer Andy Seale can be contacted on mobile number +41 792 173476 or messages can be left at The Vulcan Hotel, Sydney (country code +61) on (0)2 9211 3283.

Athletes can be contacted via the switchboard at the Olympic Village on +61 2 811 35222

Information in South Africa from Carrie Hulme, Arcay Corporate Communications, on +27 11 480 8757

WHO/RBM information from Beatriz Martinez Garcia on +41 22 791 2891