This initiative is not a one-off to score PR headlines or tick a corporate responsibility box. It’s a serious long-term effort, with significant measured impact, deeply ingrained with the company’s mission, to eliminate malaria from Africa and ultimately the world.

We’re currently focusing on East Africa, which suffers a large share of the world’s malaria deaths, due its socio-economic vulnerability as one of the world’s poorest regions, combined with a climate and geography that facilitates an extremely high density of mosquitoes who are growing ever more resistant to insecticides.

Around two-thirds of the population in this area works in agriculture, and malaria is not only a threat to their lives, but also to their livelihoods. When a family member gets severe malaria, they can’t provide income or food for months. However, when diagnosed and treated early, one can fully recover in just two weeks.

Furthermore, people with untreated malaria may spread the infection to a mosquito that bites them, which in its turn spreads the disease by biting other people, leading to a perpetuated runaway effect that can burden entire families and even villages.

That is why this region needs a combination of insect expertise, prevention measures and investment in its healthcare infrastructure and workforce, so we can remove the malaria burden that is hampering educational, social, and economic progress. And help people take the fight against malaria into their own hands, ultimately accelerating development and overall prosperity.

Despite being treatable, malaria still claims over 600,000 lives annually, 95% of which in Africa. Early diagnosis and treatment are crucial to stop this mosquito-borne illness from turning deadly. But in Rwanda, many lack timely access to basic healthcare. 82% of the population lives in rural areas, while the few hospitals are in urban centers, and transport infrastructure is underdeveloped and unaffordable to most.

This created a grim dilemma for those experiencing early malaria symptoms like fever and headache; hope it’s a minor illness that will pass or embark on a grueling multi-hour walk to get tested and treated. Both give the disease the chance to reach a point of no return, sometimes in just 24 hours.

SC Johnson, makers of pest control brand Raid, have been working to eliminate malaria for decades. They decided to take another important step in this fight.

Throughout the years, SC Johnson, makers of Raid, have made great strides in the fight against malaria, through longstanding research and education efforts, combined with widespread donations of mosquito control solutions, like repellent coils, lotions and sprays.

And while these prevention measures are effective, they cannot guarantee 24/7 protection against malaria, in part because mosquitoes are developing resistance faster than technology can develop new and effective formulas.

Especially in areas like East-Africa, where climate and landscape allow malaria-carrying mosquito species to thrive, while most of the population works outdoors and lacks closed-off housing, leaving them extra exposed. All it takes is one bite.

To truly protect those most vulnerable to malaria, we had to expand the fight beyond prevention, and decided to put our resources, relationships, and expertise at work to bring timely malaria care to millions at risk. Because no one should live in fear of mosquitoes.

The ambition was clear. But you don’t simply enter the healthcare conversation as an insecticides manufacturer.

We started in Rwanda, where 90% of the population are at risk for malaria. Here, we established a fundamental partnership with the Society for Family Health Rwanda, a pan-African NGO focused on improving the health of the most vulnerable, and the Rwandan Ministry of Health.

A blueprint was designed for a cost-efficient facility that could diagnose and treat malaria, able to operate self-sufficiently, even in the most remote, off-the-grid locations. This was done together with engineers and architects from the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Rwanda Housing Authority, as well as clinical officials from the Ministry of Health and Abbott Diagnostics.

For the initiative to become permanent, we needed more than physical buildings. We needed an operational model that allows each health post to be financially self-sustaining. A program was set up to train local nurses as entrepreneurs who could run the health posts and hire 8 to 13 employees, economically empowering these communities.

During the pilot phase, 10 health posts were built. Then, another 40. Today, we have 75 in Rwanda and 1 in South Sudan. And 20 more are planned across Kenya and Tanzania.

Each health post provides life-saving malaria services to around 7000 people.

As of January 2024, 1,166,553 patients have received care at one of the 76 locations.

In areas with a health post, average walk time to treatment has decreased from 3 hours to 30 minutes.

This, together with prevention measures and other initiatives, including Certified Care, has contributed to an 84% drop of severe malaria cases and an 89% drop of malaria mortality across Rwanda, compared to 2018.

The initiative is building health equity in rural communities, but also accelerating economic progress, through the creation of 7,382 construction and operational jobs and 409 full-time healthcare jobs (70% women / 30% youth), which ultimately helps erase socio-economic inequities.

The businesses model is open to other brands and with a global communication campaign Raid and SC Johnson are raising further awareness to attract others to join the efforts.

Through continuous staff training, the health posts have extended their services to the treatment of other conditions, like tuberculosis, malnutrition and HIV.

Our immediate next goal is to help cut malaria mortality across East Africa by 50%, by 2025. And eventually completely eliminate the disease.