Today, NetGuarantee, a subsidiary of Malaria No More, announced that Mozambique is the first country to have used its innovative finance mechanism to speed the delivery of life-saving mosquito nets to protect people against malaria. In November, 250K nets arrived in port in Mozambique. And now the country is completing the distribution of the nets – protecting up to 500,000 people in need – months earlier than would have otherwise been possible.

Malaria is the leading cause of death in Mozambique, which records four million cases of malaria in a typical year. Thanks to the NetGuarantee mechanism, up to an additional half a million Mozambicans are protected from malaria during this year’s peak transmission season.

NetGuarantee applies innovative finance techniques common in the private sector to speed the delivery of life-saving mosquito nets to at-risk populations in Africa. When nets arrive early, more lives are saved, more malaria cases are averted and health care expenditures are reduced.

NetGuarantee’s activities in Mozambique were made possible by Zurich in North America, part of the Zurich Financial Services Group, collateral backing from the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, Goldman Sachs Gives, and Malaria No More Fund, and funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and ExxonMobil. In addition to the grant provided to Mozambique by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, contributions were made by Bestnet A/S, Brad Herbert Associates, the International Procurement Agency B.V., Malaria Consortium, the Ministry of Health of Mozambique, Montrose Africa, and World Vision Mozambique.

Read more on the news here.