United Against Malaria (UAM) was named Global Campaign of the Year at the 2014 PRWeek Awards ceremony held in New York City on March 20. The designation honors UAM’s seamless integration into the 2013 Orange™ Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) soccer tournament, reaching an estimated 1 billion people with life-saving messages about prevention and treatment of malaria.
“As a group of partners committed to the fight against malaria, we are grateful and honored by this recognition,” said David Kyne, chief executive officer of KYNE and campaign manager for United Against Malaria. “This award is testament to the work and commitment of RBM partners Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (CCP), Malaria No More and Speak Up Africa as well as African private sector partners such as Standard Bank and Nandos, who worked together under the UAM banner to drive progress against malaria, a completely preventable and treatable disease that still cripples the continent.”
As an official social cause of AFCON, Africa’s most popular athletic competition, the UAM campaign partners worked with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to leverage television, radio and print communications channels, featuring African celebrity soccer players and heads of state, to reach people living in endemic countries with educational messages. Leveraging more than $10 million of in-kind support, UAM’s campaign efforts are estimated to have reached more than 1 billion people in more than 21 African countries, through 39 local and international broadcast channels and more than 167 billboards in 16 countries. More important than reach, studies show that after seeing a UAM spot, fans took action to protect themselves and their families.
JHU∙CCP has been the lead in developing a ground swell of African country support for the UAM campaign through the Voices for a Malaria-Free Future project. CCP built UAM platforms between 2009 and 2014 with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, USAID and Dfid in Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. “JHU∙CCP’s Voices Project activated many in-country teams to join this exciting campaign, who in turn activated the private sector who saw the campaign as a terrific opportunity to join the fight against malaria,” said Claudia Vondrasek, Voices Project Director. “We combined the passion of African soccer with an urgent call to action to reduce preventable deaths from malaria. We conducted studies in Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda to show that the campaign was effective at raising political and popular support for malaria control.”
“UAM is a true example of the power of public-private partnerships to create social change and lasting impact,” said Herve Verhoosel, head of external relations for the Roll Back Malaria Partnership. “We are so proud of our UAM partners including non-profits, the private sector, government leaders, CAF, soccer champions and the United Nations system. Each played a critical role in leveraging AFCON to help end malaria and leave a lasting legacy.”
The PRWeek Awards are the premier awards within the communications industry. The Global award category includes all sectors; other finalists included GE, Virtual Tourist, DotOrg and TV9 and other big private sector companies. UAM’s award is particularly significant, as UAM is the first UN-affiliated initiative to be recognized for such an honor.
About United Against Malaria
United Against Malaria (UAM), a campaign of RBM and managed globally by KYNE, is a partnership of soccer teams and heroes, celebrities, health and advocacy organizations, governments, corporations, and individuals who have united to win the fight against malaria. Our goal is to galvanize partners throughout the world to reach the international target of reducing deaths worldwide. JHU∙CCP was a founding partner of UAM. JHU∙CCP used 12 existing country platforms to expand the reach of this partnership and galvanize over 115 private companies to be “Malaria Safe” through their affiliation with the UAM campaign. To learn more please visit www.UnitedAgainstMalaria.org and www.malariafreefuture.org.
About Roll Back Malaria Partnership
The Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) was founded in 1998 as a global framework to coordinate global action against malaria. Today, RBM is made up of more than 500 organizations across sectors that provides a neutral platform for consensus-building, developing solutions to challenges in the implementation of malaria control interventions and strategies, promotes high-level political commitment and monitors progress towards universal goals. For more information, visit www.rollbackmalaria.org.
About KYNE
Founded in 2009, KYNE is a privately held strategic communications agency in New York City. KYNE’s mission is to drive progress against unmet health needs by connecting public and private organizations in strategic partnerships and related communications programming. KYNE has deep experience in moving health issues forward and driving towards meaningful outcomes. To learn more, please visit KYNE.COM.
