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This year, Olam continued its efforts to reduce malaria in the communities that it operates in.  Olam’s participation in this year’s International Malaria Prevention and Awareness Day programmes consisted of initiatives concentrating on promoting good health and creating awareness on malaria prevention measures. Over 2,000 people benefitted from the programmes and a total of 530 people received malaria detection tests.

The Malaria Awareness Initiatives were geared towards changing the mentality of the community, from being passive participants to active fighters against the disease. With relatively high prevalence of malaria in Mozambique, Olam is dedicated to fighting the spread in its workforce. The team from the local provincial medical facility were also in attendance to conduct educational sessions for the community on malaria prevention measures, identification and destroying of mosquito breeding grounds in the neighbourhood. Voluntary testing was also offered to the community.

In Tanzania, events ran across the five operating locations in partnership with local medical facilities. Workers were encouraged to ask malaria-related questions to trained experts and voluntary fast detection tests were administered by medical officers. Counselling and treatment was offered to those who tested positive. Fortunately, malaria prevalence in Tanzania has shown to be on the decline due to aggressive measures and initiatives undertaken by the government and private sector.