BASF reveals new mosquito net to fight against malaria
German chemicals company BASF has unveiled a new mosquito net it hopes will aid in the global fight against malaria. The net which contains a new class of insecticide has been given an interim recommendation by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Death rates from malaria have dropped by 60% since 2000, according to the WHO, but attempts to end one of the world’s deadliest diseases – which kills around 430,000 people a year – are under threat as mosquitoes become increasingly resistant to measures such as insecticide-treated bed nets and anti-malarial drugs.
BASF’s new net is based on chlorfenapyr, which has been used in agriculture and urban pest control for over two decades, but BASF reworked it to make it effective on mosquito nets and meet targets for the public health market.
It said the net will provide protection for at least three years or 20 washes.
The new Interceptor G2 insecticide-treated net is expected to be available to health ministries and aid organizations from towards the end of this year, BASF said.
A WHO spokesman said the Geneva-based organization’s interim recommendation meant it still had to evaluate the net’s public health impact and it was requesting more data from the chemicals company.
BASF is also waiting for the WHO to evaluate another chlorfenapyr product, an indoor spray for walls and ceilings called Sylando 240SC.
Egon Weinmueller, head of BASF’s public health business, believes that the development breakthrough will help this generation to end malaria for good.