Novartis, Alere, Time Warner, Twitter, and more sign on to help close malaria testing and treatment gaps in Africa
Malaria No More announced today, World Malaria Day, that some of the world’s most innovative companies have signed on for the Power of One campaign, which will use the latest social, mobile, and e-commerce technologies to rally the global public to close malaria testing and treatment gaps in Africa.
A child dies every minute from malaria, making it one of the top killers of children worldwide. Every dollar donated to the Power of One campaign will fund a full course of life-saving treatment for each child diagnosed with a case of malaria. The campaign aims to accelerate progress in malaria and close the Africa treatment gap, of approximately 436 million treatments, between now and the end of 2015. This will be achieved through direct donations that complement existing government commitments along with efforts to increase both public and private investment in the fight against malaria. Power of One will launch to the public in the fall.
Power of One is supported by significant commitments from Novartis (NYSE: NVS), the world’s leading provider of malaria treatments, and Alere Inc. (NYSE: ALR), the world’s leading provider of rapid diagnostic tests for several chronic and infectious diseases, including malaria. Through the partnership, Novartis will donate up to three million full courses of its pediatric antimalaria drug and will support the campaign financially over the next three years. Alere will donate two million rapid diagnostic tests over the next two years to accurately diagnose the disease in sub-Saharan Africa.
“We believe that this innovative campaign will help speed malaria elimination,” said Joseph Jimenez, Novartis Chief Executive Officer. “Novartis has been striving towards this goal for more than a decade, and we just reached the milestone of providing 600 million treatments without profit to patients in malaria-endemic countries. No one should die from malaria today.”
“We are very excited to support the Power of One campaign and play a leading role in combating one of the world’s most dangerous infectious diseases,” said Alere CEO, Ron Zwanziger. “Reliable diagnostics are critical to the achievement of this goal, enabling health workers to identify cases of malaria within a matter of minutes and ensuring that therapy is appropriately targeted. Alere’s mission is to improve individual health outcomes on a worldwide scale, and this partnership with Malaria No More provides one example of how we’re able to accomplish that.”
Power of One is the result of collaboration between Malaria No More, a nonprofit organization, and West, a marketing strategy and creative group founded by former Apple marketing executive Allison Johnson. Havas Worldwide (NYSE: HAVS) has signed on to help lead creative development and production, and Blue State Digital, a recognized leader in online fundraising, advocacy, social networking, and constituency engagement is applying lessons from the Obama campaign to this global grassroots issue.
Malaria No More CEO Martin Edlund said, “The Power of One campaign has the potential to revolutionize the way the consumer public and corporations engage with global issues. We are extremely proud to welcome Novartis, Alere and the other forward-thinking corporate and media partners who have signed on to help us end malaria deaths one dollar and one child at a time.”
Additional campaign partners include media leaders Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and News Corporation, who will contribute in-kind media placement, and Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), which lent its new film MARY AND MARTHA to an innovative opportunity to contribute malaria treatments. For every video view of HBO Films’ MARY AND MARTHA trailer today, World Malaria Day, Malaria No More will provide a full course of treatment for a child with malaria up to 50,000 treatments. The film, which began airing on HBO on April 20th, tells the story of two mothers who lose children to malaria.
The Power of One also brings in technology innovator Twitter. Their contributions to the initiative will be announced later this year. The campaign is receiving additional financial support from Newman's Own Foundation.
For more information about the Power of One campaign, visit www.Po1.org.
