Bayer partners with Goodbye Malaria

Bayer offers vector control solutions used in the fight against malaria.

Bayer announces the establishment of a partnership with Goodbye Malaria. Both organizations will jointly support the objectives of Ending Malaria for Good in Southern Africa.

The figures published in the 2016 World Health Organization (WHO) malaria report, with malaria cases falling by 21 percent between 2010 and 2015 and malaria death rates falling by 29 percent over the same period, provide encouragement for more action to accelerate malaria elimination. In the last 15 years, vector control has been responsible for preventing almost 80 percent of the total cases averted in Africa. However, despite the success in recent years, it is widely agreed that the magnitude and global reach of the disease requires the ongoing engagement of all major stakeholders to work together to provide expertise, investment and innovation. Bayer partners with Goodbye Malaria in strengthening their respective commitment to expanding access to WHO-recommended vector control tools and preventing people from contracting the disease.

An initiative created and managed by African entrepreneurs, Goodbye Malaria has been raising funds for the past four years to deploy vector-control interventions for preventing malaria cases in Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland and works closely with the National Malaria Control Programs in those countries to ensure optimum impact. Goodbye Malaria is also playing a major role in educating people that malaria elimination is possible and convincing them to join the fight against malaria.

“We are excited to collaborate with Bayer to expand our malaria control programs, as we share the common belief that malaria elimination is possible thanks to vector control solutions,” says Sherwin Charles, Goodbye Malaria co-founder. “In gathering local as well as international, public and private partners around this common objective we expect to accelerate its fulfillment and End Malaria for Good.”

Goodbye Malaria’s philosophy and engagement resonates with the commitment of Bayer toward malaria elimination and the company mission of Science For A Better Life. Bayer has been involved in the development and supply of effective vector control solutions for more than 60 years, including core interventions such as indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting net insecticides used in the fight against malaria.

“We are pleased to partner with Goodbye Malaria to jointly eliminate malaria in Mozambique and Swaziland by the year 2030,” said Jose De Sousa, Country Group Head for Sub-Saharan Africa at Environmental Science, a business unit of the Crop Science division of Bayer. “The partnership established by Goodbye Malaria, which involves an international donor, government and the private sector, is the first of its kind — and we are proud to be part of it. Through our vector-control solutions, together with the organization we will contribute to the protection of lives, to improve quality of life and to help maintain the social and economic development of communities.”

In line with the WHO call for harnessing innovation, Bayer continues to invest in the development of new vector control solutions, specifically targeting the challenge of insecticide resistance. The most recent development, Fludora Fusion, is the first two-way combination product for IRS, which also introduces a new mode of action. Submitted to the WHO Pesticides Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES) in October 2015, Bayer expects to have it available for use later in 2018.

“The management of insecticide resistance in malaria vectors relies largely on the implementation of IRS,” says Justin McBeath, market segment manager for Malaria Vector Control at Bayer. “Therefore, our partnership with Goodbye Malaria is particularly important. As Bayer continues to develop new tools to support the goal of ‘Ending Malaria for Good’, we can gain crucial insights from implementation challenges associated with IRS through this alliance.”