Saving Lives: Good for Bzzzness

Yesterday, the Roll Back Malaria partnership released a new report called “Business Investing in Malaria Control: Economic Returns and a Healthy Workforce for Africa.”

The report studied countries where companies have expanded their role in malaria prevention. Roll Back Malaria found that the private sector is a critical partner in the fight against malaria – and that preventing malaria benefits both the company and a community’s economy, because malaria is bad for business.

Companies around the world are playing a big part in the movement to end malaria and here are just a few reasons why their involvement is important:

• Companies and local economies suffer when there’s a high rate of malaria. The work force is weakened by sickness, savings are lost, commerce is slowed, and public health budgets are diminished. In fact—in 2005, almost 75 percent of companies in Africa reported that malaria was negatively affecting their business.
• Malaria illness and death cost Africa about $12 billion per year.
• Companies can take the lead in controlling malaria by protecting their workers and their families, strengthening their businesses, and extending programs into communities. Not only that, but there’s evidence that scaling up malaria control efforts has a high return on investment -- which is business-speak for “preventing malaria is good for business!”
• Companies are critical in this fight –they can provide support to national malaria control programs.

Yvonne Chaka Chaka, a Goodwill Ambassador for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and one of our Champions to End Malaria said, “I’m calling on the private sector to be more active in the fight against malaria. This issue is important to everyone who lives and works on the African continent, so we need to see every company involved.”

We hope companies around the world check out this report and join us in the fight against malaria!