Bioko Island Malaria Control Project: Achieving effective public-private-civil society engagement to reduce malaria in a challenging environment

The Bioko Island Malaria Control project (BIMCP) was developed and is being implemented by an innovative partnership involving the Government of Equatorial Guinea, private sector corporations led by Marathon Oil, and non-profit organizations led by Medical Care Development International (MCDI) to reduce malaria transmission on Bioko Island. Malaria is a serious public health problem for the people of Equatorial Guinea (EG) and throughout tropical Africa. Until recent years, due to lack of resources, limited capacity, and few viable intervention options, no effective program was in place to reduce the malaria burden in EG. Marathon Oil and its partners responded to this challenge by pledging an initial investment of $6 million in 2004 to design and mount an ambitious malaria control initiative. This was followed by subsequent increments based on evolving needs, resulting in a final commitment to invest $12.1 million through 2008. Working closely together, the partners decided that a sustained investment in malaria control held the key to addressing an important impediment to development for the EG government, a public health crisis for the people, and a serous business challenge for Marathon Oil. With technical advice from MCDI and its partners, a mosquito vector control program based on the proven strategy of widespread indoor residual spraying (IRS) was coupled with an improved case management approach to promote early and effective malaria treatment. By the end of 2006, the IRS program covered over 120,000 structures, and exceeded 80% of its spraying targets. From 2004 to 2006, the BIMCP lowered malaria incidence among oil workers by 63%, while reducing the percentage of children under the age of 15 with malaria parasites in their blood from 45% to 26%. Further positive results are expected from a survey in early 2007. These results could not have been achieved without the full collaboration and understanding of all partners. Too often, public and private goals and objectives are not seen as mutually reinforcing. In this case, however, close collaboration, and continued efforts by all parties to work together to achieve common goals helped achieve what each working separately could not have done. This presentation will describe how this occurred.