Malaria

Malaria—one of the greatest threats to global health and economic welfare—is also one of the most preventable epidemics currently afflicting humanity. We know how to prevent, diagnose and treat the disease—the issue is one of resources and ensuring effective implementation of vector control activities, treatment, logistics and R&D.. Business action is thus a critical pillar in the worldwide fight against an epidemic that claims one million lives each year.

GBC member contributions to the global fight span the full-spectrum of public health interventions, including the distribution of life-saving bed nets, treatment for children and infected pregnant women and the development of new diagnostic tools and medications. Rarely are these efforts made in isolation. Coalition members frequently engage in leveraged partnerships with governments, multilaterals and on-the-ground NGOs to save more lives than ever before.

The Coalition supports member actions against malaria in a number of ways: facilitating member-to-member collaboration and knowledge co-creation; creating practical technical tools to support corporate malaria programs; and engineering structured partnerships that blend each company's resources and competencies for maximal impact.

The Coalition serves as the Secretariat for the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa (CAMA), a partnership that provides member companies with increased networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities. The Coalition and CAMA recently convened high-level leadership from Chevron Corporation, Halliburton, Marathon Oil, Pfizer Inc, Sumitomo and Syngenta, along with the President's Malaria initiative to review and fine tune a new malaria management guide for business. The step-by-step guide builds on proven best practices to make corporate malaria initiatives more sustainable. It takes business beyond bed nets, incorporating awareness, education, diagnosis and treatment components.

Coherent, structured partnerships are an important component of the Coalition's malaria agenda. GBC member companies are currently leading an innovative new co-financing initiative—a $100 million private-sector-led Malaria Capital Campaign. The campaign, which kicked off with a $28 million co-investment by Marathon Oil and the government of Equatorial Guinea in October 2008, is being organized by GBC, Malaria No More and the U.N .Foundation. Coalition members have now pledged more than $38 million toward the campaign.

A recently-released evaluation of the Coalition's 2007 malaria partnership in Zambia shows that the rapid deployment of 500,000 bed nets prevented 130,000 child malaria cases. Coalition members, in partnership with the U.S. government, procured the half-million bed nets, which were then distributed by HIV/AIDS caregivers from RAPIDS, an on-the-ground NGO. Lessons learned from the partnership are now being applied to the Coalition's Health at Home/Kenya Impact Initiative, which includes a home-based bed net distribution component.

» Read more about the Bed Net Dialogue, an industry initiative coordinated by the Coalition

» Learn more about the Coalition's partnership with CAMA and the new malaria management guide