Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, billionaire Bill Gates and Queen Rania of Jordan will put their fame to work this week as they join a Twitter campaign to end malaria deaths. Ashton Kutcher, Ryan Seacrest and other Hollywood celebrities have also joined the Twitter campaign. Started on Wednesday, the participants will send out “tweets” encouraging the public to donate to buy bednets which guard against the mosquitoes that spread malaria in Africa. Gates will also take part in TV charity fundraiser “Idol Gives Back” Wednesday to promote the fight against malaria and other health causes. Organizers of the Twitter fund-raising push are working with the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers. Malaria causes more than 1 million deaths annually worldwide, but the problem is most acute in Africa. Others taking part in the Twitter campaign include basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, talk show host Larry King, singer Jordin Sparks and Sarah Brown, the wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, organizers said. Collectively, the participants have 50 million followers on social networking site Twitter. The contest was inspired by a race a year ago between actor Kutcher and CNN to be the first to reach one million followers on Twitter. After Kutcher won the contest, he donated $100,000 to Malaria No More. This first blast of messages over Twitter will end on Sunday, which is World Malaria Day. It will be followed later in the year by more tweets from the participants.
