I recently had the pleasure of meeting an inspirational man in New York named Robin R. Crespo. Robin is the CEO, Founder & Designer behind ING Activewear, which was started in 2006. His talent with fabrics over the years eventually led him to creating a revolutionary mosquito repellant fabric called Moskeeto Armor™. This fabric is being used to combat insect-borne diseases around the world and was the inspiration behind the non-profit organization Code Purple Event, which launched at New York’s Fashion Week in February 2012.

Code Purple’s Mission: 

In Africa, a child dies from malaria every 45 seconds. This life-threatening disease is caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through bites of infected mosquitoes. Highest at risk are poor communities who cannot afford treatment or have limited access to healthcare, trapping families in a downward spiral of poverty. Ninety percent of malaria related deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

ING Activewear, Touch The World and the designers associated with this project are all personally committed to launching one of the largest initiatives to help prevent the millions of African children and adults from dying of malaria every year. Supporters will be playing a direct role to raise crucial funding needed to bring this technology to the masses for support, prevention and education to the more than 225 million cases of malaria reported each year worldwide.

But now comes the documentary called 5 On Monday-5 children. 5 countries. 5 Mondays. 1 deadly infection.

Statistically, if 5 children with malaria enter a hospital in Africa on Monday, 3 out of 5 of them won’t make it until Friday. That’s an alarming statistic and something we should definitely be paying more attention to. A lot of people would be surprised to know that malaria is a bigger killer in Africa than AIDS currently is. I know when I went to Africa, not only did malaria not worry me, but I stopped taking the malaria pills I was given because they were making me feel sick. I figured if I got sick I’d just take some medicine and get better. I had no idea how deadly of a disease it really was!

But something Robin has done is that he’s created a way to battle the disease, not by adding medicines or equipment to the hospitals in Africa, but by creating a way for people to stay safe and not get bitten. Avoiding the disease all together is a much better idea than battling it after you’re already sick. Moskeeto Armor™ is currently available in the form of a purple hoodie that protects people through a 3-weave system that has an inner weave that’s been treated to repel mosquitos. That weave never touches the body on either side, yet creates a barrier of protection around the wearer.

Currently the business model is that whenever someone buys a hoodie, another hoodie is given to someone who needs it in a high risk a region. He’s now coming up on the 1 year mark in Uganda since first distributing his Moskeeto Armor™, and everyone who has received the product has stayed safe from malaria. To see more on this, please watch this video.

The plans for Moskeeto Armor™ are vast and the future is starting to look much brighter for the people currently in a high risk zone for malaria.

Robin is hoping that this documentary will help raise awareness and education about malaria in order to truly fight this deadly disease and win. He’s currently trying to raise $100,000 per country to fund the filming he has planned in each area for 2 weeks. With a 10 week shooting schedule ahead and a start date in just over 50 days, his work is really cut out for him. But if anyone can do it, Robin and his team can!

If you want to learn more about Robin mission or how you can contribute, please check out the following links and spread the word. This is a charity, a mission and a man I truly believe in and support with all my being. I hope after reading everything & watching all the videos, you do too.

CODE PURPLE EVENT

5 ON MONDAY video