Liberal MP Belinda Stronach is challenging Canadians to help close a gap in anti-malaria aid for Africa that will be identified Friday by the United Nations.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon planned to call for universal malaria control by the end of 2010 with the donation of 120 million more bed nets.

The mosquito-borne disease claims the lives of more than one million people a year, mostly pregnant women and children under the age of five.

Insecticide-treated bed nets from an initial wave of malaria control efforts have been cutting deaths and infections in half in some countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zanzibar and Eritrea.

"It's a huge problem but there's a simple solution," said Stronach, who started an effort in Canada with comedian Rick Mercer in November 2006 to provide 500,000 bed nets to children in Rwanda and Liberia.

So far, their Spread the Net campaign has raised $2 million and 100,000 nets have been delivered by UNICEF Canada. "When Canadians are asked to respond to an enormous challenge — the largest killer of kids in the world — they step right up," said Stronach.

"But there's a lot more work to be done."

She is asking each Canadian household that can to buy a $10 bed net.

There are nine million households in the country, she said, and a contribution from each one would save the lives of anywhere from nine to 45 million people, since whole families often sleep under the insecticide-treated nets.

The Roll Back Malaria Partnership, launched in 1998 by the World Health Organization and other international partners, estimates a total 250 million more nets are required in sub-Saharan Africa.

Funding is already available from various sources for 130 million nets, leaving a gap of 120 million.

The group planned to roll out a new initiative Friday in response to the UN challenge.

The pace of distribution has increased because the nets are now part of mass integrated health campaigns across Africa.

Malaria costs the continent an estimated $12 billion a year in health costs and lost productivity.

U.S. President George W. Bush launched a malaria initiative in June 2005 and has pledged 10.5 million bed nets this year.

Stronach's grassroots campaign in Canada has included high school and university campus challenges. But her group is going to start lobbying for corporate donations, she said, and work on educating people about the preventable disease.

Stronach announced last year that she won't seek re-election. She has returned to Magna, the auto parts giant founded by her father, as vice-chair and is spending time on various charitable causes.