[Malawi/Lilongwe], 3rd December 2014] – Airtel Malawi has joined other Telecommunication companies across Africa in partnering with the African Union (AU) Commission to garner resources in support of Ebola affected countries in West Africa.

The initiative, known as ‘The Ebola Solidarity Campaign’ will use an SMS dedicated platform to raise funds for the deployment of African health workers to affected countries.

The SMS fund-raising campaign will use the short code 7979 across the continent and will require customers to send an SMS written ‘Stop Ebola’ to this code in order to donate from their respective countries.

The 3 month campaign will run from 2nd December 2014 until 2nd February 2015 whereby both Prepaid and Postpaid customers will be charged K100 per SMS.

“Customers can donate by sending as many SMSs as possible and they will receive a confirmation SMS thanking them for their support towards kicking Ebola out of Africa,” explains Heiko Schlittke, Airtel Malawi Managing Director.

Commenting on the initiative, African Union Chairman, His Excellency Yayi Boni of the Benin Republic, said: “We are delighted to partner Airtel Malawi and other players in the Telecommunications sector in this effort. The Ebola outbreak presents a major problem for the continent and threatens to derail great economic strides that have been achieved by the affected countries. We cannot afford to look on and do nothing. We believe that with the support of the private sector we can collectively fight this disease that seeks to attack the very fabric of the African continent”.

Ebola has claimed over 5,000 lives across some parts of West Africa since it was first reported in Guinea in March 2014. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), this is the largest outbreak on the continent and is currently prevalent in four countries – Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali. There have been isolated outbreaks in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Senegal, although these countries have been subsequently declared free of the disease.

Other Telecommunication operators participating in this campaign are Millicom, Safaricom, Tigo, Vodacom, Econet Wireless, Orange, Digicel and MTN.