Campaign To Save African Kids From Malaria Finds Favour With Young Americans Donald G McNeil Jr Donating $10 to buy a mosquito net to save an African child from malaria has become a hip way to show you care, especially for teenagers. The movement is like a modern version of the March of Dimes, created in 1938 to defeat polio, or like collecting pennies for Unicef on Halloween. Unusual allies, like the Methodist and Lutheran churches, the National Basketball Association and the United Nations Foundation, are stoking the passion for nets that prevent malaria. The annual "American Idol Gives Back' fund-raising television special has donated about $6 million a year for two years. The music channel VH1 made a fund-raising video featuring a pesky man in a mosquito suit. Addressing a conference of 6,000 Methodist youths in North Carolina last year, bishop Thomas Bickerton held up his own $10 and told the crowd: "This represents your lunch today at McDonald's or your pizza tonight from Domino's. Or you could save a human life.' The lights were so bright that he could see only what was happening at his feet. "They just showered the stage with $10 bills,' bishop Bickerton said. "In 30 seconds, we had $16,000. I'm just lucky they didn't throw coins.' Part of what has helped the campaign catch on is its sheer simplicity and affordability