The time to act is now: filling critical gaps in malaria prevention
Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease. Partnerships with governments and NGOs can help advance efforts for future generations.
Despite improvements to health outcomes and global disease prevention efforts in recent decades, a child dies from malaria every minute. The disease affects more than 200mn people every year, and claims the lives of more than 600,000, mostly children under the age of 5. And yet, priorities to address prevention and treatment efforts are often left unchecked.
A powerful wake-up call
Alongside the 26th annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, the Government of Rwanda hosted the Kigali Summit on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) on June 23, to discuss the urgency of ending malaria and NTDs.
Ahead of the Summit, SC Johnson – the company behind insect repellents and pest control products such as Autan®, Raid®, and OFF!® – announced a partnership with The Global Fund to accelerate eradication efforts through increased investment, advocacy and development of targeted preventive interventions.
Malaria claims the lives of hundreds of thousands of children every year, and yet it remains one of the most neglected diseases on the planet
SC Johnson and the Global Fund’s partnership focuses on combining the organisations’ respective core competencies to drive measurable and economically sustainable social impact in the fight to eradicate malaria across countries in the African Great Lakes region. The partnership is an example of how private and public sectors can work together to eradicate the disease once and for all, specifically leveraging entomological surveillance, end-user behavioural research and product acceptability and use research. SC Johnson has committed over $100 million to public health efforts in Africa over the last decade and with this partnership is dedicating another $10 million over the next two years towards malaria eradication efforts.
“Malaria claims the lives of hundreds of thousands of children every year, and yet it remains one of the most neglected diseases on the planet,” said Fisk Johnson, Chairman and CEO of SC Johnson. “We’ve been working for decades on preventative interventions and innovative solutions, such as spatial repellents, to help those most at risk. We know we can’t tackle this insidious disease alone. That’s why we are partnering with the Global Fund and calling on leaders here in Kigali to redouble their efforts to help end malaria once and for all.”
As part of a panel discussion at the Summit, Alan VanderMolen, Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Affairs and Philanthropy at SC Johnson, emphasised the urgency of combatting this disease. “We need to capture the impatience of youth to push action from the public sector, from the private sector and also not settle for the status quo,” said VanderMolen. “We can take lessons from COVID-19 and how the public and private sectors can come together with civil society to speed solutions to the people who need them most.”
Integrating innovative solutions
Last year, SC Johnson joined the Society for Family Health Rwanda and leaders of the East African Community in signing a Memorandum of Understanding to combat malaria, with the goal of reducing disease mortality by 50 per cent by 2025 and ultimately eradicating it from the African Great Lakes region. The partnership has seen nearly 70 health posts built across rural Rwanda, helping to improve access to interventions for those most at risk of malaria. Since January 2020, these clinics have provided care and education to almost 1mn people.
SC Johnson has been working with public health partners for nearly a decade to deliver Mosquito Shield™, a low-cost, effective indoor spatial repellent for use where core interventions may be constrained. It comes as a plastic film coated with 110mg of transfluthrin formula on one side and is activated by simply peeling the film apart to activate the protective ingredient, working continuously for 30 days. The company is working on Mosquito Shield™ and other spatial repellents to help close a critical gap in malaria prevention methods currently available in public health channels.
A brighter future
While today’s statistics paint a stark picture, the fact remains that malaria is an entirely treatable disease.
In raising awareness about the very real impact partnerships between the private and public sector can deliver, SC Johnson hopes to paint a more optimistic outcome. Last year alone, the Great Lakes initiative reached more than 60mn people in East Africa, helping to work towards a shared goal of cutting malaria morbidity in the region by 50 per cent by 2025. With more attention and investment, SC Johnson believes a bright future can be reached sooner.