“I visited with some nurses in the hospital where we were and I asked them why all the children were in the hospital. They said it was malaria. That just slapped me in the face,” said Beatty, who moved to Smyrna from California 11 years ago.

Since that first trip, Beatty has formed Kenya Kids Malaria Mission and goes back yearly to distribute Olyset bed nets to families in the western part of the country, bordered by Lake Victoria. The nets are made of a durable plastic weave saturated with an insecticide that stays potent for five years. Those nets are the only ones recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to fight the disease, which is carried by the Anopheles mosquito.

During his trip in March of this year, he distributed 800 nets, but would like that number to increase to 3,000 per visit. He will share his experiences and mission at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20 at Raz’z Restaurant when he presents “Our Night to Fight Malaria.”

“We get up in arms about West Nile Virus (also transmitted by mosquitoes) but the truth is only about 60 people die from it here in the United States. Malaria kills 72 kids every day in Kenya,” the doctor said.

The reason for holding the benefit at Raz’z is because owner Raz Ademosu survived a battle with the disease at age 4. Ademosu said when he showed his mother a video explaining Beatty’s mission, she broke out into tears.

“I asked her what was wrong and she said, ‘You don’t remember? You were 4 and dying of malaria.’ Then I started to remember. It was terrible. We lost 75 to 100 people in our village,” he said. “For me, I have to wake up every morning and thank God that I’m here.”

Malaria or a disease resembling it has been noted for more than 4,000 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It was present in the U.S. until 1951, when the government reduced mosquito breeding sites by controlling water levels and insecticide applications.

Children under age 5 are most susceptible because they have not developed the antibodies to fight the disease, Beatty said.

“A child living in sub-Saharan Africa could be bitten between 10 and 400 times a year. Oftentimes, kids are treated for malaria, released from the hospital and go back home get reinfected within days. Malaria is one of the worst diseases in the world and it doesn’t have to be,” he said. “It’s totally preventable and that’s what we’ve got to get people to understand.”

Tickets to the event are $40 per person. The evening includes buffet dinner, a silent auction and giveaways of crafts created in Kenya. For more information, visit www.KenyaKidsMalariaMission.com or send an e-mail to KenyaKidsMalariaMission@comcast.net.

— Mealand Ragland-Hudgins, mragland@dnj.com, 615-459-3868