Standard Chartered Bank today announced that over 200,000 Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLITNs) have been distributed in eight African countries since it embarked on its Africa-wide malaria prevention programme called NetsforLife with the programme’s funding partners in April 2006.

Malaria remains the number one killer disease in The Gambia and Africa as a whole. In the past 15 years, more people have died from malaria than HIV/AIDS, and every 30 seconds an African child dies from the disease. There is no vaccine and none is expected in the foreseeable future. Protection against the disease is key towards preventing its spread. The NetsforLife programme aims to significantly reduce the impact of malaria in Africa, by distributing 1 million nets by the end of 2008 across 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa in which the greatest number of malaria cases have been reported.

To date, the programme has registered resounding success in all eight countries where it has been launched. A total of 200,000 LLITNS have been distributed to vulnerable people across Angola, Burundi, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia.

In addition, over 389,000 people have taken part in the accompanying awareness programmes, learning about how the disease is spread and what can be done to protect the more vulnerable members of the community such as infants, pregnant women, the chronically ill, immuno-compromised individuals and the elderly.

In 2007-2008, similar programmes will be run in Botswana, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, and a further 800,000 nets will be distributed.

Commenting on the programme, Humphrey Mukwereza, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Gambia, said:

“We are extremely proud of the NetsforLife program. This is our response towards Africa’s need for a sustainable program that checks the spread of a disease that is killing an African child every 30 seconds and which costs the continent over USD12 billion a year through lost GDP. We believe malaria is largely preventable, and we remain committed towards preventing the spread of the deadly disease.”

At country level, SCB Gambia has worked closely with its partners – Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital and the local government and has distributed Insecticide Treated mosquito nets to children in a bid to combat this disease. This effort has demonstrated the Bank’s commitment to supporting the communities in which it operates.