Marathon continues to work with the Government of Equatorial Guinea, Marathon, Noble Energy GEPetrol and SONAGAS on a successful Bioko Island Malaria Control Project (BIMCP) in Equatorial Guinea. The innovative private-public partnership has committed to investing an additional $28 million to continue its malaria control initiative through 2013.
The BIMCP began in 2003 as a five-year initiative to address the burden of disease attributable to malaria on the population of Bioko Island. The project has focused on vector control through indoor residual spraying, distribution of free drugs to high risk populations such as pregnant women and children under the age of 15, and a comprehensive monitoring and surveillance program; universal bed net coverage was added in 2007. In 2006, the BIMCP was expanded to the mainland of Equatorial Guinea through a multi-year commitment by the Global Fund and an additional Marathon Foundation grant, making this program the only integrated malaria control project with nationwide coverage in Africa. As the BIMCP enters its sixth year in 2009, it has already achieved life saving results (based on annual household surveys):
- 64 percent reduction in deaths among children under age five
- 49 percent reduction in the number of children aged 2 to 15 infected with malaria parasites
- 85 percent reduction in reported malaria cases in government health facilities
- 99 percent reduction in the number of mosquitoes infected with the malaria parasite based on specimens collected from window traps
- 73 percent of children aged 2 to 15 reported sleeping under an insecticide treated bed net the night before the surveys, exceeding the Abuja Declaration targets