Better Bednets Provide New Hope in Reducing Malaria

ARUSHA, TANZANIA, 17 November 2004 -- Global leaders gathered in Arusha for the launch of A to Z Textiles, the first factory in Africa to produce long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets, agreed that conditions were right for a massive scale-up in the battle against malaria, which claims more than a million lives each year and hampers development, especially in Africa.

"Long-lasting insecticidal nets (ITNs) are Africa's best hope for preventing malaria, and we are very proud that Tanzania is the home of Africa's first manufacturer of these nets," said the president of the United Republic of Tanzania, Benjamin W. Mkapa. "We hope that this shining example of technology transfer and strengthening of local industry will serve as a model for similar efforts, making the nets more affordable and available to the millions of Africans who need them."

President Mkapa delivered a message of hope to a group of dignitaries including U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, Roll Back Malaria Partnership Executive Secretary Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Executive Director Richard Feachem, and USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health Dr. E. Anne Peterson, as well as representatives of the Roll Back Malaria partners who had made the A to Z technology transfer possible.

The technology for long-lasting insecticidal nets, which embed insecticide within the net’s very fibres and therefore retain their efficacy for up to five years without retreatment, was transferred to Tanzania last year in a groundbreaking collaboration between private and public sector entities including the Acumen Fund, Sumitomo Chemical, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), ExxonMobil, and Population Services International. Ordinary insecticide-treated bednets must be returned for retreatment periodically. A to Z Textiles now produces nearly half a million of these new nets each year and hopes to ramp up production to pass the one-million mark in 2005.
"This is a new era for malaria control," declared the Roll Back Malaria Partnership's Coll-Seck. "Demand for this latest generation of effective malaria-control tools is increasing rapidly, and so is funding. If we can replicate the success of A to Z to ensure an adequate supply of long-lasting insecticidal nets, and work with pharmaceutical companies to ensure ACT supplies, we will demonstrate the true power of public-private partnerships by dramatically reducing malaria deaths."

In addition to its support of the Global Fund, a key partner in this effort, USAID supports NetMark, a partnership that is working with 13 major commercial firms representing over 80 percent of the global capacity to produce and distribute ITNs. NetMark works to identify and reduce barriers to effective engagement of the commercial sector, to create demand and to share the risks of developing markets, thereby expanding the availability of affordable nets. This effort, joined with that of the many Roll Back Malaria partners to scale up ITN access and use throughout Africa, is a new endeavor only in the beginning years of introduction, but already showing promise that it can reduce malaria deaths by one million annually.

Consistent use of an ITN has been shown to decrease severe malaria by 45 percent, reduce premature births by 42 percent and cut all-cause child mortality by 17 to 63 percent. In most settings, ITNs are the most effective way that families can protect themselves from malaria. A recent study from the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from August 2004 suggested that pyrethroid-treated nets were as effective for malaria control as house spraying with DDT and it is the role of bed nets and other interventions to permit reduced use of DDT spraying for any given target incidence level.

“Nets can be deployed now in the desperately poor countries in Africa where malaria-related deaths are highest and can be put into the hands of parents who want to protect their children,” said Dr. Peterson.

New technologies for malaria prevention and treatment, combined with an increase in available funding, are fueling optimism in the fight against malaria. The latest generation of highly effective malaria treatments known as artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) offer a cure that so far has met only minimal resistance from the malaria parasite. Derived from the Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) plant traditionally used to treat malaria in China, these medicines have become the drug of choice for more than 40 countries (20 of them in Africa), and demand for them has increased rapidly.

Courtesy RBM Partnership Secretariat; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; A to Z Textile Mills Limited; Acumen Fund; ExxonMobil; UNICEF; and WHO