ExxonMobil Marks World Malaria Day with Renewed Commitment to Combatting Malaria

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ExxonMobil has provided more than $110 million in funding and support; reaching 83 million people since 2000

  • Support to continue in 2013 with $10 million in grants for the fight against malaria
  • ExxonMobil-supported programs have distributed 13.1 million bed nets, 1.7 million top-line malaria treatments and 942,000 rapid diagnostic tests over the past 13 years

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- On the eve of World Malaria Day, ExxonMobil announced its next round of ExxonMobil Foundation grants to organizations working hard to combat malaria.

The new grants support the lifesaving malaria programs of leading global organizations, including Malaria No More, Africare, the United Nations Foundation, USAID, Jhpiego, Population Services International, UNICEF and the Medicines for Malaria Venture. ExxonMobil is also supporting a number of these organizations’ World Malaria Day events across Africa, including Malaria No More’s World Malaria Day Concert and Ceremony in Cameroon and Grassroot Soccer’s World Malaria Day soccer tournaments in Nigeria, Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea, among others.

“Through our longstanding work in Africa, ExxonMobil has witnessed firsthand the devastating health and economic impacts of malaria,” said Suzanne McCarron, president of the ExxonMobil Foundation. “We are building on our efforts over the past 13 years to support innovative programs to stop the spread of this preventable disease and save lives.”

Over the past decade, the global community has made impressive strides against malaria. Thanks to increased awareness and wider distribution of bed nets, diagnostics and treatments, deaths from malaria have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2000. However, much work remains as global funding for malaria slows, threatening to reverse the progress made against this disease.

ExxonMobil is committed to helping this progress continue. As one of the leading private-sector investors in malaria, ExxonMobil has provided more than $110 million in grants and other support since 2000. Recognizing that no single approach is sufficient, ExxonMobil funds a range of interventions and efforts, including research, advocacy, treatment and prevention to ensure a comprehensive response. Each grant supports specific solutions that are filling gaps in the fight against malaria. ExxonMobil also leverages its internal expertise to support organizations across the malaria field.

“Corporations have a key role to play in fighting malaria,” said Dr. Regina Rabinovich, ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar-in-Residence at Harvard University. “The private sector provides resources, internal expertise and institutional knowledge that help amplify the impact of malaria programs and, ultimately, save lives.”

Organizations that ExxonMobil supports have been instrumental in the important advances made against malaria over the past decade. To date, ExxonMobil’s funding has helped to distribute more than 13.1 million bed nets, 1.7 million top-line malaria treatments and 942,000 rapid diagnostic tests. ExxonMobil has also supported the training of more than 250,000 health care workers to ensure these interventions are used effectively. In total, ExxonMobil’s malaria assistance has reached an estimated 83 million people in Africa and the Pacific Rim.

ExxonMobil focuses on funding programs that are making a difference on the ground right now. For example, a recent study found that ExxonMobil grantee Malaria No More’s “Knock Out Malaria” communications program in Cameroon has increased bed net use significantly, encouraging approximately 298,000 adults and 221,000 children to start sleeping under a net. This is just one of the many success stories in which individuals and communities have come together to champion the fight against this disease.

The 2013 grant recipients include:

  • Malaria No More
  • Harvard School of Public Health
  • UN Foundation – Nothing But Nets
  • PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI)
  • Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)
  • Accordia Global Health Foundation
  • Jhpiego
  • Global Health Corps (GHC)
  • USAID – President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)
  • Population Services International (PSI)
  • Africare
  • Cameroon Business Community Coalition against Malaria, Tuberculosis and AIDS
  • Grassroot Soccer
  • Family Care Foundation
  • Norwegian Red Cross
  • University of California, San Francisco – Global Health Group
  • Oxford University – ExxonMobil Scholars in Global Health Science

ExxonMobil is proud of the work of our grantees over the past decade and remains committed to working with local and international partners to drive continued progress in the future.

About ExxonMobil Foundation

ExxonMobil Foundation is the primary philanthropic arm of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) in the United States. Globally, ExxonMobil and the ExxonMobil Foundation provide funding to improve basic education, promote women as catalysts for development, and combat malaria and other infectious diseases in developing countries. In 2012, together with its employees and retirees, ExxonMobil, its divisions and affiliates, and the ExxonMobil Foundation provided $256 million in contributions worldwide. Additional information on ExxonMobil’s community partnerships and contribution programs is available at www.exxonmobil.com/community.

ExxonMobil
Media Relations, 972-444-1107

Source: Exxon Mobil Corporation

Released April 24, 2013