Ongoing Projects
Bioko Island Malaria Control Project: A partnership for Success in Equatorial Guinea
In Sub-Saharan Africa, someone dies of malaria every 30 seconds. That’s a million deaths a year. Most of these wasted lives are children under five years of age.
This killer disease imposes great pressure on already-fragile healthcare systems, inflicts huge economic burdens on society and threatens businesses by impacting workers. Equatorial Guinea has been particularly hard hit by cerebral malaria—the deadliest form of this devastating disease.
But we are fighting back through the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project. Formed in 2003, AMPCO, Marathon, Noble Energy, GEPetrol and SONAGAS, teamed up with the Ministry of Health and Social Well-being and created an implementation team of leading health specialists. This multimillion dollar public-private partnership is saving lives, building institutional capacity and helping alleviate poverty.
Led by Medical Care Development International, the project is designed to interrupt, then drastically reduce, the transmission of malaria on the Island using three main interventions: vector control—through indoor residual spraying and bed nets—improved case management, and surveillance and evaluation.
The Bioko Island Malaria Control Project has already delivered impressive results. The number of infected mosquitoes has dropped by 99 percent, while active malaria cases among children under the age of 15 has fallen by almost a half.
Encouraged by the early success of the Bioko Island project, we were able to help the government secure financing from the global fund to extend the fight against malaria to the mainland of Equatorial Guinea.
By bringing together committed companies from the private sector, leading health specialists and the Ministry of Health and Social Well-being to form an integrated team, we have helped create a partnership for success and a malaria intervention model for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Book Donation Program
AMPCO will be working closely with the Ministry of Education to complete a corporate book donation program. Half of the proceeds will go to the Books for Bioko schools, with the balance for a separately-branded program providing learning materials for a number of public and private school. There are 11 schools selected, and AMPCO has acquired 6,875 books for distribution commencing in June 2010.
Books for Bioko
Books for Bioko is an employee-led initiative that supports the educational development of the next generation of Equato-Guineans at seven schools on Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. Well-managed schools are selected, and books and study materials are supplied through donations, benefitting more than 2,000 students. Since 2004, employees worldwide have raised almost $200,000 in cash donations and in-kind contributions.
In 2008, an Awarding Excellence program was introduced with certificates and prizes presented to reward and encourage a combination of academic excellence and good conduct. This initiative will continue for years to come, whereby more children will be given the opportunity to excel in a variety of academic areas.