Malaria kills an African child every 30 sec and more than 1 million people a year, said Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of ExxonMobil Corp., as he explained on “World Malaria Day” last April how the company is fighting the preventable disease.
ExxonMobil is the largest nonpharmaceutical corporate donor toward malaria research and development in Africa, it says. Through its Africa Health Initiative founded in 2000, ExxonMobil has committed $50 million, partnering with and supporting such organizations as the Abuja Declaration on Roll Back Malaria in Africa, which has a goal of cutting the number of deaths from the disease by half by 2010.
The company, which has thousands of employees in Africa, is helping to develop new drugs, distribute insecticide-treated nets to places where they are needed, and educate people through health education sessions and a $10 million donation in 2008 toward malaria research and development through the organization, Malaria No More. It also is raising international awareness and support for defeating the disease.
Chevron Corp. has a strong presence in Africa as well and is partnering with other private companies, such as Coca Cola, and local and national governments to combat malaria, tuberculosis, and another deadly disease, AIDS, especially in Africa. Chevron has made a $30 million, 3-year commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS. Partner initiatives present classes on awareness and prevention, aggressively seek cures, support clinics, and provide testing, counseling, and training.
Companies giving back
In addition to supplying energy, which enables civilizations to advance in comfort, travel, engage in commerce, and prosper, most oil and gas companies also endow local communities with support advancing health, education, and training; schools, roads, housing, and other infrastructure; and culture and the arts.
Some companies donate funds to United Way-type umbrella groups or match funds their employees donate to their favorite charities. Some sponsor marathons, golf tournaments, or other major community activities to raise millions of dollars for various causes that make a considerable difference in the lives of people in some way every day.
The employees of many companies get involved in a personal way.
For example, for most of the 10 years that ConocoPhillips has operated in Vietnam, it has supported—through donations and employee time—an endeavor called “Operation Smile.” In this program, doctors perform free surgeries on children with cleft palates and other facial deformities that can present difficulties when eating and drinking and can cause respiratory problems. The doctors have performed more than 12,000 surgeries over 20 years to correct such deformities, making a tremendous difference in the lives and futures of these children.
ConocoPhillips also supports InFOCUS, which treats and prevents blindness in residents of developing countries. InFOCUS trains primary eye-care providers and promotes eye care for those who otherwise would not have such access.
“Worldwide, 35 million people suffer from blindness that is either preventable or treatable,” ConocoPhillips says, “Studies show the leading cause of blindness is uncorrected visual refractive error—the lack of eyeglasses.”
In the Bohai Bay area of China, where nearsightedness (myopia) is especially prevalent, ConocoPhillips’s contribution to InFOCUS in 2005 helped 450 schoolchildren see better with eye care and new prescription glasses.
Education and art
Apache Corp., among its contributions, has donated to the rebuilding of a burned-out shelter-school for 200 boys and girls in Neuquen Province, Argentina, and through its Girls’ Education Initiative, it raised funds and supervised the building of 200 one-room school buildings in Egypt in areas having high rates of out-of-school girls. It also built two schools for Bedouin children.
The company’s Ucross Foundation, established by Apache founder Raymond Plank in 1981, is an artists’ colony on a 20,000-acre working cattle ranch the foundation leases in Wyoming. It has provided residencies, work space, and uninterrupted time to more than 1,300 visual artists, writers, and composers, Apache says. Works written there include Annie Proulx’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Shipping News;” Liz Gilbert’s international bestseller, “Eat, Pray, Love;” Adam Guettel’s Tony Award-winning musical, “The Light in the Piazza;” and Doug Wright’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, “I Am My Own Wife.”
Through its Apache Foundation, the company also is distributing 1 million trees across the US. “One acre of forest puts out four tons of oxygen…and removes six tons of carbon dioxide,” the company says. “So we expect that 1 million trees will take 1 million tons of CO2 out of the air.”
