Tatsuo Mizuno, General Manger, Sumitomo Chemical Vector Control Department, discusses the company’s commitment to the fight against malaria, and its new bed net production facility in Tanzania

Interview by GBC Executive Director John Tedstrom

Earlier this year, Sumitomo Chemical announced the opening of the Arusha Net Factory in Tanzania, an Olyset production facility that will produce 10 million nets per year and create more than 3,000 local jobs. Can you describe why Sumitomo decided to open the Arusha factory, and how it fits in with the company’s overall commitment to the fight against malaria and your broader corporate values?  

There has been a call to provide 280 million new long-lasting insecticidal bed nets (LLINs) to Africa by 2010—to “close the bed net gap.” With our Olyset Net manufacturing operations in Arusha, we are demonstrating our belief that these bed nets can and should be produced in Africa, by Africans and for Africans.  In fact, we believe that for long-term economic sustainability, life-saving commodities such as LLINs must be produced locally in Africa. With this approach, the social impact is two-fold—supporting economic development and providing public health benefits.
           
Sumitomo Chemical’s ethos is that our business should benefit society. For 400 years, this has been our operating principle. The strategy of producing Olyset Net in Africa and offering it to governmental and non-profit or charitable public health entities at a minimum sustainable price is in keeping with this belief, and is a core part of the Sumitomo Chemical corporate social responsibility program.  

The Arusha project also provides direct investment into the community—can you provide insight into why Sumitomo felt it was important to also make a significant contribution to the overall economic development of the region?  

Economic development is essential for Africa to develop its potential. International donors and African countries spend significant portions of public health funding on bed net campaigns. For long-term sustainability of bed net production, the manufacturing and distribution infrastructure must be localized. Sumitomo Chemical has committed that any future increase in manufacturing capacity will be focused in Africa.   

Does Sumitomo have any upcoming projects or initiatives concerning the distribution of its bed nets that you’d like to highlight? I noticed that you’re sponsoring a project with Roll Back Malaria called the Zambezi Expedition—what is your role in this effort?

Mosquitoes and malaria do not stop at the country borders. The Zambezi Expedition demonstrates the importance of regional, cross-border strategies in the fight against malaria. Sumitomo Chemical is proud to be a sponsor of the expedition, in partnership with other leaders. We have contributed Olyset nets to be distributed in the six countries of the expedition. During the rainy season, when the rivers flood, it is even more challenging to deliver nets to remote villages—this will be fully demonstrated during this expedition.    

Recently, Sumitomo Chemical was also pleased to make a donation of a quantity of Olyset nets to support malaria control efforts in SDAC Countries. For example, in Mozambique, Malaria Consortium will assist in the distribution of these nets.

Beyond your core competency of producing LLINs, an absolutely critical tool for public health, what is Sumitomo’s view concerning the broader private sector role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria?

We believe the private sector can contribute its knowledge and experience in developing successful business practices to simplify some of the complex processes in public health. For example, the procurement process for public health commodities such as LLINs is widely agreed to be far too slow.

There are many reasons for this, but in reality, these long delays increase the numbers of lives lost to malaria. In the global fight against malaria, the private sector should lead the effort to develop improved processes that bring life-saving products to those who need them as quickly and efficiently as possible, and hence allow the global community to meet agreed health targets.

Finally, what messages would you like to offer to your partners and other stakeholders as we recognize World Malaria Day 2008? What do you regard as the biggest challenges facing us in the effort to defeat malaria?

We at Sumitomo Chemical have two simple messages: 

Tools for effective malaria control, such as long-lasting bed nets, are available now.  What is holding back progress against this disease is the inefficiency in getting these tools as quickly as possible to those affected by malaria. Responsible organizations must quickly streamline these processes so that we as a manufacturer can deliver our life-saving product, Olyset Net, so global health goals can be met.

Secondly, we believe that making malaria control sustainable is critical to long term success—this is why we put an emphasis on local production within regions affected by malaria—in Africa, by Africans, for Africans.