25 April 2026
On World Malaria Day, we celebrate the power of partnership in bringing life-saving tools closer to the communities that need them most.
The collaboration between SC Johnson and the REACH Network is an important example of how innovation, shared commitment, and country-led action can help strengthen the fight against malaria.
Through this partnership, pilots using the Guardian™ spatial repellent are now starting up in Niger and Mali, with planning also underway in Nigeria.
This marks an exciting step forward in exploring how new tools can help protect vulnerable communities, particularly young children and families living in high-risk settings.
Practical, African-led integration
By building on the existing community health platform of REACH, this partnership reflects a practical and integrated approach to malaria prevention.
It is rooted in the belief that effective protection must reach those most at risk, including communities that are too often left behind.
What makes this collaboration especially important is its focus on equity, partnership, and African-led delivery. It demonstrates how working across sectors can support stronger, more integrated approaches to child survival and disease prevention.
A moment of great promise
For decades, progress against malaria has relied on a combination of tools, including bed nets, seasonal chemoprevention, and, more recently, promising candidate vaccines.
These interventions have saved millions of lives, but gaps remain, particularly in remote and underserved areas. The Guardian spatial repellent offers additional protection to the tools we already have.
The REACH Network has already demonstrated its ability to get to settings where health systems and delivery mechanisms have historically been stretched thin, and the addition of SC Johnson’s spatial repellent to its combined arsenal of interventions for child survival is a highly promising development.
Over the coming months, pilot programmes in Mali and Niger will test how the spatial repellent innovation can be delivered alongside the REACH platform.
Breakthrough
Speaking on World Malaria Day, Professor Samba Sow, Co-chair of the REACH Network, said,
“The real breakthrough for us as a Network comes when we bring solutions together and reach children with a full package of prevention and care, directly in their communities.
“REACH countries like Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso too, in due course, are showing that it is possible to deliver integrated, life-saving interventions at scale, and to ensure that even the most vulnerable children are not left behind.”
“Innovation only matters if it reaches the people who need it most. Partnering with SC Johnson, the REACH Network can work to ensure that new tools like the Guardian spatial repellent are delivered at scale, alongside existing interventions, to protect children and families in the communities most affected by malaria.”
Professor Samba Sow
Co-chair of the REACH Network
Delivering impact
On World Malaria Day, the REACH Network recognises that progress depends not only on innovation, but on the partnerships that help translate innovation into impact.
Together, SC Johnson and the REACH Network are helping to bring about a future where more children and families can live free from the threat of malaria.
The Guardian™ spatial repellent; image by kind permission of SC Johnson
