By Bayer

At Bayer, we are committed to using science and innovation to improve people’s lives for the better. Bayer’s heritage in malaria control spans over more than 60 years and we continue to build on this long-term commitment and expertise by researching, developing and supplying innovative solutions including Indoor Residual Spray (IRS) and supplying active ingredient for use in Insecticide Treated Bed Nets (LLINs). These interventions remain the most cost-effective means to prevent the disease today.

Malaria is a fundamental humanitarian challenge and we firmly believe in the power of partnering to create maximum impact in the fight against the disease. Indeed, much of the progress made since 2000 is thanks to the combined efforts of so many public institutions and private companies. Today, as progress to reduce the global malaria burden slows and with world attention focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that more than ever collaboration is essential if we are to “Draw the Line Against Malaria”.

Bayer is pleased to become a partner of the Corporate Alliance on Malaria in Africa (CAMA), which brings together the collective force of the private sector across the African continent to drive malaria control and support elimination. In doing so we are reaffirming our willingness to collaborate, mobilize our diverse know-how and resources and advocate together with other members, to fight malaria on all fronts.

This partnership is representative of our broader work.

In 2018 Bayer was a signatory to the ZERO by 40 declaration together with other leading agrochemical companies and overseen by the Innovative Vector Control Consortium with one overarching goal: to eradicate malaria by 2040.

One key area where the companies are working together is to address the growing challenge of resistance to the limited number of insecticides available for vector control. Both a concerted approach to integrated vector management (IVM) and insecticide resistance management (IRM) strategies is vital, as is the ongoing investment to ensure that novel, sustainable and cost-effective solutions are discovered, developed and reach the market.

To this end Bayer has increased investment into new vector control product development nearly 5-fold over the last 10 years. In 2019, we successfully introduced a new and innovative Indoor Residual Spray, Fludora® Fusion, produced in South Africa which has been used by National Malaria Control Programs in more than a dozen countries across the continent to protect more than 30 million people last year alone.

Fludora® Fusion is the first-ever IRS insecticide to combine two active ingredients with different modes of action, providing optimum effectiveness against mosquitoes that are resistant to other insecticides. The product has strong residual activity for up to one year and, through the 23 trials across 16 African countries, proved highly effective against 15 different mosquito-resistant strains and on 33 different surfaces.

We are pleased that over the last two years we have been able to work with the United Nations Foundation (UNF) by suppling Fludora® Fusion to prevent malaria transmission in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. In 2019-20, with an in-kind contribution to the UNF’s Nothing But Nets campaign and through its implementing partner, Malaria Zero alliance in Haiti, malaria transmission was interrupted in over 10,000 households. Following on from this success, Bayer is making a similar in-kind contribution which will support UNF’s Nothing But Nets and its implementing partner, the MENTOR Initiative, in a spraying campaign that will protect close to 400,000 internally displaced persons in the conflict stricken Borno State, Nigeria, where 34% of all deaths are caused by malaria, more than any other cause.

It is in this spirit of collaboration and willingness to engage in impactful partnerships that we renew our partnership with CAMA. We have been involved with CAMA in the past and we are very happy to be a part of the alliance again. We look forward to continuing to work with like-minded organizations in order to advance the fight against malaria and improve the quality of life for those that are at risk from the disease.