Lutheran anti-malaria effort to begin

ST. LOUIS (AP) — One of the nation's largest Lutheran bodies is launching a campaign to rid Africa of malaria.

The Lutheran Malaria Initiative is a partnership of Lutheran World Relief and St. Louis-based Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which has 2.3 million members in 6,200 congregations.

The initiative will officially begin with events Sunday through Tuesday.

The effort seeks to raise $45 million toward eliminating malaria deaths in Africa by 2015. The Missouri Synod says congregations, schools and individuals have already contributed nearly $2 million to the project.