(Click to enlarge)

In 2002, the ExxonMobil Africa Fuels Marketing Group teamed with AED/NetMark to set up the Help Us Help programme. The programme seeks to reduce the burden of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa by increasing the commercial supply of and public demand for insecticide-treated bednets.

The focus of the programme is on communicating the necessity of behavioural
change, providing health education information and conducting related promotional activities. The programme has mounted a series of campaigns, beginning with a pilot ‘Help Us Help’ campaign in Zambia in 2003. After the successful pilot in Zambia, the campaign approach was improved and campaigns were run in Ghana in 2004 and Nigeria in 2005. Zambia and Ghana ran second Help Us Help campaigns in 2005, and Cameroon will soon start a campaign.

In the campaigns, coupons for the purchase of bednets are distributed to local residents, including pregnant women, at area medical clinics and antenatal clinics. The coupons can then be redeemed at service stations in ExxonMobil’s retail network to purchase discounted insecticide-treated bednets. The service stations also donate a portion of gasoline sales to provide free bednets for local orphanages.

About 80 per cent of the coupons distributed in Zambia and Ghana were redeemed for bednets, demonstrating the success of this approach in getting nets to people who need them.