Comic Relief and GSK form five-year partnership to fight malaria and strengthen health systems

Issued: London

A five-year partnership to fight malaria and improve health in five countries worst affected by the disease has today been launched by Comic Relief and GSK. The two organisations are teaming up in support of global efforts to strengthen health systems’ capabilities to fight malaria – a disease which still claims almost half a million lives every year, mostly in children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.

John Bishop, Comic Relief Honorary Trustee, Dr David Brandling-Bennett, Senior Malaria Adviser at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Maurine Murenga, from the Global Fund Advocates Network, Prof David Schellenberg of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Baroness Verma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for International Development, joined Comic Relief and GSK to discuss the current malaria challenge and launch the partnership at the Science Museum.

A new fund – created through a £17m donation from GSK and £5m from Comic Relief – will provide targeted grants over the next five years to organisations on the frontline, tackling malaria and improving health in five malaria endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. These grants, made and managed by Comic Relief, will complement current malaria programmes and help build sustainable ways to ensure people can access diagnosis and prevention at the right time and in the right place.

The partnership aims to support the World Health Organization’s target to cut malaria case incidence and mortality rates by 90% over the next 15 years¹ and the Roll Back Malaria partnership’s goal of a malaria-free world. The WHO strategy focuses on bolstering global and national programmes to control malaria and increase access to diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Significant progress has been made since 2000 – as the WHO World Malaria Report 2015, published last week, illustrated.² Deaths have more than halved through increased use of bed nets, scale-up of diagnostic testing and better access to medicines. But the disease continues to take a heavy human and economic toll, straining already fragile health systems. In 2015 alone, there were an estimated 214 million new malaria cases and 438,000 deaths – 90% of which were in Africa.³

Speaking at the partnership launch, Kevin Cahill, Chief Executive at Comic Relief said, “Comic Relief has a long history of working with partners to help change lives both here in the UK and in some of the world’s poorest communities. This partnership with GSK is built on a joint desire to make a real and lasting difference to the health of people across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. 

“The tragedy of malaria is that it is a disease that is both preventable and curable but still kills nearly half a million people every year. Comic Relief has been committed to raising awareness of its devastation and funding grants to help combat it for many years. We are excited to continue our work to help eliminate this terrible disease alongside our new partner GSK.” 

Ramil Burden, Vice-President for Africa and Developing Countries at GSK, said: “We are hugely excited to step up our fight against malaria in collaboration with Comic Relief. As a healthcare company, GSK has long been involved in battling this disease but we know more needs to be done; we are delighted to partner with Comic Relief, who bring a deep understanding of supporting communities to improve health and prospects. Our partnership will support global efforts aimed at trying to reduce the burden of malaria by 90% by 2030. Not only will this help unlock human and economic potential, but it will also provide a springboard for managing other current and future health challenges.”

Grants will be made by Comic Relief through their standard independent grant making process and will be guided by a London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) study. The study, which started earlier this year, is scoping out how the partnership can best complement and enhance access to healthcare provision and current malaria interventions in endemic countries.

Initial findings from LSHTM recommend that consideration should be given to focusing investments in organisations that are taking steps to support frontline health workers; improve data gathering to help track the impact of malaria; support community prevention; and create demand for diagnostic tests and appropriate use of anti-malarial medicines.

Based on the scoping study, which looked at factors such as the burden of malaria, the partnership will make investments in Ghana, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and the Greater Mekong region. Full results from the scoping study will be available in early 2016 and first decisions on grant-making taken later in the year.

The new partnership builds on Comic Relief and GSK’s longstanding commitment to tackling malaria. GSK’s legacy of fighting malaria stretches back more than a century, beginning with Sir Henry Wellcome pioneering organised research of tropical diseases. GSK continues to lead innovation against malaria and takes a holistic approach to tackling the disease. This includes researching medicines and vaccines; supporting community prevention and health worker training; and supplying anti-malarial medicines.

Comic Relief already focuses its grants on supporting a range of interventions designed to strengthen health systems. The charity has used its annual national fundraising campaigns, Red Nose Day and Sport Relief, as a platform to raise awareness of the devastating impact that malaria has on families and communities across the world’s poorest communities.

References:

^[1] Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030, WHO, published June 2015

² http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/report-malaria-elimination/en/

³ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/report-malaria-elimination/en/

Notes to Editors:

• Images from the launch event at the Science Museum will be available here: http://bit.ly/1Okot9c
• This is a five year partnership running from 1 January 2016 until the end of 2020.
• Further details on the criteria for LSHTM’s scoping study are available on request.

Further quotes:

John Bishop, Comic Relief Honorary Trustee, said:“Malaria is a cruel disease but one that is completely preventable and treatable. I have seen first hand how it impacts families and communities. I hope this partnership will make giant strides to improve the health of millions of people who so desperately need our help."

Dr David Brandling Bennett, Senior Malaria Adviser at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said: “This is an exciting partnership that gets us closer to the goal of a malaria-free world. If we’re serious about eradicating malaria by 2040, we’re going to need to double total global investment in the fight against this disease over the next five years. The collaboration between Comic Relief and GSK is a great example of our shared commitment to ending malaria once and for all.”

Maurine Murenga, Global Fund Advocates Network, said:“As a mother from the shores of Lake Victoria, Western Kenya, I have lost count of the number of times I have been treated for malaria, including three times when I was pregnant with my son. I have experienced first-hand the devastating impact malaria has on families and communities, as well as the burden it places on over already over-stretched and under-resourced health systems. I am delighted that this partnership will significantly help to support health workers and bolster health systems as we continue to work together to fight this disease.”

David Schellenberg, Professor of Malaria and International Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “The focus on health system strengthening for malaria is what makes this partnership exciting and unique. So much more could be achieved if we did a better job at getting malaria control tools to the people who need them, when they need them. The targeted investments we’ve identified in our scoping study should help to accelerate malaria control and make a lasting impact.”

GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For further information please visit www.gsk.com.

Comic Relief is a UK charity, which aims to create a just world, free from poverty. Since 1985, Comic Relief has raised over £1billion. That money has helped, and is helping, people living incredibly tough lives, both at home in the UK and across the world. 

Comic Relief, registered charity 326568 (England/Wales); SC039730 (Scotland)

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2014.