Posted on August 18, 2008

Exxon Mobil Awards $3.5 Million for Malaria Elimination Efforts

ExxonMobil Corporation has announced a $3.5 million grant to the Global Health Group (GHG) at the University of California, San Francisco to expand its efforts to eliminate malaria in southern Africa.

The GHG, which is working with Botswana and Swaziland to develop strategic plans to eliminate the disease, will use the grant to augment its current efforts and expand them to other southern African countries such as Namibia and Zanzibar. Conducted in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation, the project is a cornerstone of the GHG's Malaria Elimination Initiative, which supports regional elimination efforts.

The funding also will enable the GHG-Clinton Foundation partnership to support the development and enhancement of critical cross-border initiatives between countries with low levels of malaria and their more heavily affected neighbors, helping to control the disease and pave the way for elimination. In addition, the grant will provide support for rigorous monitoring and evaluation and the sharing of lessons learned with the broader malaria elimination community.

"Malaria knows no borders," said ExxonMobil medical projects director Steven Phillips. "It cannot be eliminated in any one country unless we tackle it together in a regional strategy. Elimination of this disease requires new levels of regional and international cooperation."