Thank you for the question.
The partnership is very important. If you are fighting malaria by yourself, coordination will not be possible, the result not be as good and the cost will be higher. The idea of the partnership is to bring together all the economic players, the donor states and the endemic countries around one table to see who is in a position to do what. How can we divide up the work, country by country or expert area by expert area? Donor countries alone will never achieve a complete result just as the UN and the NGOs alone will never do so. We will only be able to do so by working together.
The work with MMV is an example. This partnership has a board of directors and bodies like commissions, each with its own specialty. Much like here, we have around the same table all the members of those 500 partners you mentioned, madam. They divide up the work, they choose priorities, they develop a global action plan. A few years ago, we developed a global action plan for the first time and the new edition is now complete. It is likely to be released in the coming months.
This global plan is approved by all the partners and areas so that everyone can move forward in the same direction at the same time. The problems are different at regional level. The malaria problem in Africa is different from the one in southeast Asia. We are talking with very different partners in southeast Asia, where, in addition, there is a problem with drug resistance. Hence the importance of the research and development that MMV does. Unfortunately, we are starting to see drug resistance in southeast Asia, and that is a real problem.
Because of the work with the various partners, we really are able to get better results on the ground. At times, it helps us to fight corruption in some countries where it is a major issue. It also enables us to better target our care and our response. Sometimes, the private sector will be more successful in delivering a product to a given village in Africa. I am not sure if I can use brand names here, but I am talking about all those little black bottles of Coca-Cola. Why can you find a bottle of Coca-Cola anywhere in Africa, but you cannot find a mosquito net? Maybe a private-sector company and one of those 500 partners can help us to deliver mosquito nets, and why not in the same truck as the bottles of Coca-Cola? Coca-Cola, in fact, is starting to provide help by distributing medication, especially AIDS medication.
Each of those 500 partners has something to bring to the table. It does not have to be financial. It can have to do with their knowledge, or their presence on the ground. This is a public-private partnership that works very well and we are very happy that we have those 500 partners that MMV is a part of.