Press Releases

Orkin Spreads Help to Spread the Net and UNICEF Canada

TORONTO, February 3, 2010 – Orkin PCO, Canada’s largest pest control provider, has made a donation of $15,757 to Spread the Net and UNICEF Canada. The goal of the Spread the Net campaign in partnership with UNICEF Canada is to raise funds for the purchase and distribution of 500,000 long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets (mosquito nets) at no cost to children and families in Rwanda and Liberia. The generous donation of more than $15,000 is helping to prevent malaria-related deaths in Africa and was raised through Orkin PCO employee and customer contributions as well as a corporate donation from the purchase of every Orkin PCO Home Protection Plan over the past year.

We’re in the business of protecting people and property from potentially harmful pests, like mosquitoes,” says Gary Muldoon, Orkin PCO Canada President. “Supporting the Spread the Net campaign broadens Orkin’s impact by helping save children in Africa from malaria, a preventable yet deadly disease.” In total, Orkin North America has donated $250,000 to fight malaria.

Malaria is responsible for more than one million deaths every year. Ninety percent of those deaths occur in Africa and most are among children under five years of age. A severe infection can kill a child within a matter of hours of the first sign of fever.

As a partner in the Spread the Net campaign, UNICEF Canada is thankful to Orkin PCO for their support in the fight against malaria,” says Sharon Avery, Chief Development Officer, UNICEF Canada. “Bed net distribution is an essential part of UNICEF’s health programming for children and families and every insecticide-treated bed net will help to save lives.”

Thanks to the generosity of companies such as Orkin PCO and to individuals across Canada, enough funds have been raised to purchase and deliver over 440,000 nets. Up to five people can sleep under one bed net at night, which translates 440,000 bed nets into millions of lives saved.

Insecticide-treated bed nets are the most efficient and cost-effective way to protect children from malaria. Properly treated insecticide-treated bed nets can reduce child mortality by up to 50 per cent. For just $10, UNICEF can provide a long-lasting insecticide-treated net and help ensure that families know how to use it properly to protect their children from the disease. UNICEF is a global leader in malaria prevention among children and the organization is the largest purchaser of mosquito bed nets in the world.