Report Type: Issue/Program Report

The majority of new malaria cases and deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Stakeholders from private, public and governmental sectors are coordinating their efforts to address the disease-as evidenced by increased global advocacy and funding for malaria control interventions. The Roll Back Malaria Partnership, a collection of key stakeholders, has defined ambitious goals towards
malaria control and elimination. However, many roadblocks at the local level thwart effective malaria control efforts; these roadblocks include inadequate human resource capacity, weak health systems, and inefficiencies in procurement and distribution of malaria control commodities.

Individuals get sick from malaria, but its disastrous effects are felt by households, communities, businesses and entire economies. Sustainable malaria control and elimination requires multi-level, multi-sectored collaboration. In response to the malaria challenge, the private sector has partnered with other actors and is an increasingly important provider of malaria control services and commodities-particularly to those populations who live beyond the reach of public health services.

Malaria also affects businesses' bottom lines. When employees miss work to care for themselves or their families' illnesses, bottom lines suffer the effects of absenteeism and reduced productivity; the community's buying power is reduced; and socioeconomic hardships, like reduced incomes, endure. Thus fighting malaria is both a social and a financial obligation for the private
sector in sub-Saharan Africa.

Forty-one companies operating in malaria endemic areas of Africa participated in this survey. The survey aimed to identify challenges and opportunities in scaling-up malaria interventions, in order to inform and guide expansion of private sector engagement on malaria in Africa.