Working towards a deadline 19 years away is daunting. And the prospect of eradicating a disease that claims nearly 445,000 lives every year is overwhelming. But agricultural chemical companies have the opportunity to make a real, tangible difference. BASF, Bayer, Mitsui Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical and Syngenta have come together as an industry to collaborate on malaria eradication efforts.

Given the large and global nature of these five organizations, building and maintaining buy-in throughout the initiative is a challenge. ZERO by 40—the collaborative efforts of these organizations to achieve zero burden of malaria by 2040—needs to communicate with both external and internal stakeholders about the importance of the work and the progress being made.