Ecobank Uganda’s Managing Director, Grace Muliisa, shares her insight with Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper – explaining how we need a societal response to eliminate malaria.
Six countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Uganda, account for over half of all malaria cases globally. 602,000 people in Africa died from malaria in 2020 and tragically children under five accounted for 80% of these deaths.
Malaria also adversely affects business productivity, education and families’ income – losing Africa 4.3 billion workdays and 1.5 billion school days each year.
In her article, Grace Muliisa explains how malaria doesn’t attract as much global attention as outbreaks like Ebola or Covid-19, which is why we need the private sector – for example through the Ecobank-supported Zero Malaria Business Leadership Initiative (ZMBLI) – to help health authorities control and eliminate the disease.
ZMBLI increases private sector engagement by mobilising funding from business leaders, supporting communities at risk and advocating for stronger political will to fight malaria.
Read the full article here.