There's a point at which a cluster of organizations working on a problem starts to feel like more than the sum of its parts. That kind of multiplier effect fueled Silicon Valley's technology innovation for decades.

Is it also starting to help Seattle gain traction solving problems in world health?

When people in their twenties decide to throw a party to fight rotavirus, and more than 500 guests show up (with 200 more on the waiting list), something new is taking hold.

ARI SHAPIRO/DAUBER ART PHOTOGRAPHY

Hope Randall, program assistant at PATH, demonstrates an oral rehydration kit that can save children from death due to diarrhea.

"We can change the world every day, in everything we do, even partying!" was the optimistic mantra.

Who knew that one event in Seattle could help a country achieve a national health goal? (The event raised $13,000, enough money to fund Kenya's oral rehydration program). Who knew that childhood diarrhea would be the topic of conversation at a cocktail party?

"Diarrhea Happens" was the way one of the hosts, Anne DeMelle, summed it up in a Facebook entry for Party with a Purpose. "It's true - it happens even to the best of us. For a half a million children around the world every year this seemingly benign condition is caused by a preventable virus and kills them. But it doesn't have to."

Lacey Birk, 25, said she and roommate Kristen Eddings knew rotavirus was a good cause. Though they wondered: "Are we really ready to talk about diarrhea with all these people?"

KRISTI HEIM

PATH communication officer Deborah Phillips talks with party guests about rotavirus and other health issues.

The efforts of people working in the field are getting bolstered by students and young professionals, musicians and athletes, who are all mingling, sharing information and learning about problems or diseases they may never have experienced but that plague large parts of the world.

Thomas Hansen, the CEO of Seattle Children's Hospital, enthusiastically explained a low cost mechanical ventilator for children in poor countries to a crowd of young party guests.

"We're really at the tipping point," said Todd Leadens, 22, an intern at at Boeing and engineering student at the Rochester Institute of Technology. "We have the technology to understand the problems and we can do something."

Seattle is also benefiting from the experience of people like Sanna Nyassi, who survived two bouts of malaria growing up in The Gambia, and went on to play professional soccer.

In a lab room at Seattle BioMed, Nyassi sat patiently on a stool while a woman named Diane powdered his face.

"Sanna, I'm not going to tell your teammates about this makeup situation," said Kevin Griffin, director of fan development & community relations for the Sounders FC and Seahawks.

"At least it's not eyeliner," said Diane.

"They save that for Freddie Ljungberg," Griffin quipped, not missing a beat.

"Do you have something to wipe that off later?" Griffin asked the makeup artist.

MARK HARRISON/SEATTLE TIMES

Sanna Nyassi is stepping into the limelight to call attention to malaria.

Nyassi, the soft spoken 21-year-old Sounders FC midfielder, was about to make his debut in front of the camera as a spokesman in a public service announcement for the non-profit. He had just met researcher Stefan Kappe, the man who is leading work on a malaria vaccine, and taken a look at the parasite under his microscope.

Two film crews followed his tour through the building.
"Could you look straight into the camera?" the producer coached Nyassi. "Could you say 'Now that's a great goal?'" The filming seemed tedious but Nyassi didn't complain.

"I can do this again and again," he said. "I feel good my club is part of this."

Libuse Binder, who wrote a book called "Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties," summed up what attracted her to Seattle and why she thinks what's happening here matters.

"There's a surge of educated, intelligent tech-savvy people who want to make a difference and know how to do it," she said. "We can spread the word really quickly and start a movement."

"I think because we have so much access we know what's a stake. We're concerned. We're the ones inheriting the world."