DAVID ROBERTSON - SOME HISTORY AND PAST NEWS

ALL ABOUT DAVID ROBERTSON - Press release March 1999

WORLD RECORD

Arriving in South Africa, David Robertson, a disabled Briton, is on course to smash the world record for the most countries driven through in a single vehicle in the cause of combating malaria. Robertson's arrival coincides with the African Malaria Conference in Durban organised by the Medical Research Council of South Africa and the Wellcome Trust on behalf of the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria (MIM).

In the spirit of Jules Verne, crusader, David Robertson, in his Land Rover left Rotterdam on 6th September with the ambition of gaining a place in the Guinness Book of Records with a record-breaking 300,000 mile drive that will take him across six continents over the next five years. With one leg and one arm missing the handicapped man is undertaking the endeavour to raise awareness and funds for malaria, a forgotten disease that still kills over 1 million people annually, most of them young children.

Driving the same 4x4 Land Rover, Robertson aims to smash the current record of 300,000 miles, (482,000 kilometers) through 125 countries created by Emil and liliana Schmidt who started their journey on 16 October 1984.The rules for the record state the driver must "travel through as many countries as possible with the same vehicle".

The campaign to raise awareness for the fight against malaria which began at the World Harbour Festival in Rotterdam, is being carried out in collaboration with Memisa Medicus Mundi, one of Europe's largest Non-Governmental organisations for Healthcare in Developing Countries and the Malaria Foundation International (MFI), a bottom-up organisation of malaria researchers and other professionals, with a main aim to raise global awareness and promote effective communication and global networking against malaria worldwide.

David Managed to hitch a lift to Rotterdam aboard HMS Fearless

ITINERARY

So far David has driven through the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovania, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldavia, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Wales and England. Over the next few months his journey will take him through various countries in Southern Africa.

David will visit many areas affected by malaria, as well as hospitals and research institutes where Memisa-doctors and MFI affiliated-scientists work on malaria projects. On his trip he will distribute information being provided by the Malaria Foundation International and its partners engaged in the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) initiative being coordinated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva. People in remote areas will be able to 'speak to the world about malaria' using David's state of the art communication's equipment.

The proceeds of the Drive Against Malaria will be donated to various malaria programmes agreed by David Robertson and his partners to help combat the disease.