(Corrects spelling of name in paragraphs 15 and 16, statistic in paragraph 3) By Lincoln Feast KATIET, Indonesia, May 18 (Reuters) - With perfect waves, warm water and jungle-fringed beaches, Indonesia's Mentawai Islands are a paradise for wealthy western surfers. But beyond the soft sand and swaying coconut palms, diseases like malaria, measles, cholera and tetanus subject the islands' 70,000 people to high rates of death and illness. In the worst affected areas, one in three children dies. Half of all families throughout this island chain 100 miles (160 km) off Sumatra's west coast have lost at least one child to illness, UNESCO research shows. New Zealand doctor Dave Jenkins saw the suffering at first-hand on a surfing holiday in 1999, and was moved to form the charity SurfAid International to "improve the health of people living in isolated regions connected to us through surfing". Since then, thanks to a programme providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets and education on nutrition and hygiene, malaria rates in SurfAid's pilot villages have fallen by more than 75 percent. The scheme has also attracted the support of New Zealand and Australian government aid agencies, as well as surf industry heavyweights such as Quiksilver and Billabong. Professionally sponsored surfers who regularly visit the islands for video and photo shoots have also joined in. "Can we really sit aboard our luxury $200-a-day charter boats, enjoying our fresh fish and cold beer, while people are dying from completely preventable diseases a few hundred metres away on shore?" former pro Luke Egan said on SurfAid's Web site, www.surfaidinternational.org. "No. We have to help." "HELLO MATE" In the village of Katiet, the influence of visiting surfers and SurfAid is evident. Local people in dugout canoes ply handicrafts to the charter boats anchored off the village's famous surf break, known variously as Lance's Right, Hollow Trees or H.T.'s. Groups of children chorus "hello mate!" to a few surfers wandering in the well-tended village, asking for their photos to be taken and laughing at the results on digital camera screens. SurfAid is now renovating a property in Katiet that it plans to operate as a centre to train small groups of islanders to spread the anti-malaria message, and showcase how they can improve hygiene and nutrition for their families. "Education is a key," said Kirk Willcox, SurfAid's communications director. "In some places, they think malaria comes from coconuts, and often the kids suffer from malnutrition because their diet is low in fresh vegetables and protein." MALARIA CONTROL GOAL Australian Tom Plummer, SurfAid's malaria programme director, is on a programme of visits to more than 200 remote villages that SurfAid plans to reach in its recently launched Malaria Free Mentawai Project. Formerly the captain of a surf charter boat, Plummer has spent 15 years in the Mentawais and speaks fluent Indonesian. "It's amazing getting to go to all these villages and checking out what they're up to and because we're providing them with nets and help for malaria, they really let us in," he said. While SurfAid's reputation grew slowly and steadily during its first four years, it was the 2004 tsunami that devastated the province of Aceh to the north and another massive and deadly earthquake centred on nearby Nias Island three months later, which thrust SurfAid into the wider consciousness. In response to the disasters, SurfAid immunised more than 16,000 children and delivered 20,500 treated mosquito nets and more than 300 tonnes of emergency aid, helped by funding from surfers and the surf industry. SurfAid's Willcox, who was working for Quiksilver at the time, came to Indonesia with former world surfing champion Tom Carroll and others to help with SurfAid's relief effort. "It had a profound effect. I'm really not surprised to be working for SurfAid two years later," he said. Infrastructure rebuilding and programmes to improve the islanders emergency preparedness have followed. Willcox said the focus would remain on prevention rather than treatment. "We'd prefer to be the advisors at the top of the cliff rather than the ambulance at the bottom," he said.
