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An innovative Japanese product that has the
potential to save millions of people from
malaria every year is for the first time being
manufactured in Africa – the continent where
90 per cent of the world’s malaria deaths
occur.
UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the
Acumen Fund, which jointly announced the
breakthrough today, said the transfer of the
Japanese technology to an African manufacturer
was made possible by an international
public-private partnership aimed at greatly
reducing malaria deaths.
The new technology extends the efficacy of
insecticidal bednets from about one year to more
than four years without being retreated. Known
as “long-lasting insecticidal nets,” the new
product is a powerful weapon for fighting
malaria, which kills more than one million
people annually, most of them children under the
age of five.
“The use of long-lasting nets brings us to
a crucial point in the war against malaria,”
said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy.
“If we can get these kinds of nets into the
homes of the people who need them most, we can
take a huge stride toward stopping a disease
that kills 3,000 children every day.”
Ordinary nets need to be treated with
insecticides at least once a year to remain
effective, a requirement which has been
difficult to achieve, in part due to cost,
availability, and custom. In comparison, the
long-lasting nets retain their effectiveness for
at least four years, thanks to a technology that
embeds the insecticide within the net’s very
fibres. Until A-Z Textile Mills in Arusha,
Tanzania, began producing the nets in Africa
earlier this month, long-lasting nets were only
manufactured in East Asia.
Producing the nets in Africa increases their
availability to the people most affected by
malaria and strengthens the development of
industry in Africa. In addition to the human
toll, malaria costs Africa $10 to $12 billion
annually in lost GDP.
“If health and development are truly global
priorities, then it is essential that we reduce
the number of malaria deaths,” said Dr. LEE
Jong-wook, Director-General of WHO.
“Insecticidal nets stop the malaria-carrying
mosquitoes from biting, and act as a chemical
death trap for them. Properly used, they can cut
malarial morbidity by at least 50% and child
deaths by 20%.”
For further information, please contact:
Mohammad Jalloh, UNICEF Media, New York: (212)
326 7516; Maria Cheng, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland:
(41 22) 791 3982; Victor Chinyama, UNICEF
Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office:
(254) 20 622218; Rustom Masalawala, Acumen Fund,
New York: (212) 566 8821 Ext. 103; Damien
Personnaz, UNICEF, Geneva: +41 22 909 5716 -
Video footage and photos on malaria available on
request.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Japanese technology was brought to Africa
by a partnership comprising WHO, UNICEF, the
Acumen Fund, and private companies.
The Acumen Fund is a New York-based
non-profit organization that invests
philanthropic resources in innovative social
entrepreneurs and enterprises with a primary
goal of social change. After visiting a number
of bednet manufacturers in Africa, it chose A to
Z Textile Mills Limited in Arusha, Tanzania, as
being the most promising candidate company for
the early transfer of the new technology. The
Acumen Fund then provided a loan to A to Z
Textile Mills to purchase the required machinery
for the manufacture of insecticidal nets.
The machinery and specialized chemicals came
from Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical Company, which
invented the process for producing the
long-lasting nets. Sumitomo streamlined the
production process to make bednets more
affordable, and transferred its “Olyset”
technology on a non-exclusive basis to A to Z
Textiles without any license fee. In addition,
Sumitomo has agreed to train African technicians
and establish quality control procedures for
long-lasting bednets manufactured in Africa. The
company has already expressed its willingness to
transfer the Olyset technology to more African
bednet producers.
ExxonMobil, another partner in the venture,
will supply the resin for the manufacture of
long-lasting nets.
At the upcoming third Tokyo International
Conference on African development from September
29 to October 1, members of the Roll Back
Malaria initiative, a global partnership founded
by the WHO, United Nations Development Program,
the World Bank and UNICEF, hope to mobilize
support for the control of malaria. One day
during the conference will be devoted to
increasing efforts to reduce the burdens of
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
”It is critical that this breakthrough with
long-lasting nets benefit poor families and
communities,” said UNICEF’s Bellamy.
“Reducing taxes and tariffs on material needed
to produce the netting will make this possible,
as well as subsidizing the cost of the new nets
especially targeting the most vulnerable groups,
pregnant women and children under five years of
age.”
While UNICEF and WHO welcome the
public-private partnership that initiated the
Africa-based production of the bednets, they
emphasize the need for further development of
these long-lasting technologies and the
involvement of additional partners. They also
encourage similar transfers to other African
companies and increased funding to subsidize the
purchase of the nets for Africa’s poorest
families. Slightly more than $1.5 billion could
pay for 100 million families to have three nets
in the home. Although the initial cost of
insecticidal nets is higher than conventional
nets (around $5), when the costs of annual
retreatment that conventional nets need are
considered, long-lasting nets are much more
cost-effective.
WHO, UNICEF and the Acumen Fund, together
with their private partners, hope that other
African companies will soon also have the
capability to manufacture these nets. They are
appealing to companies that make the raw
materials or that have developed the technology,
and to entrepreneurs and businesses based in
Africa, so that low cost, high-quality bednets
might be available quickly to all people at
risk.
Many African countries have recently
received, or will shortly receive, funds for the
purchase of nets from the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and some of
these countries will choose to purchase LLITNs.
Nets are distributed to people at risk of
malaria through commercial sales, through
subsidized sales linked to vouchers distributed
at medical clinics, and through direct
distribution to vulnerable groups. UNICEF will
also be purchasing nets from A to Z for
distribution in Africa.
“We envision a range of highly effective,
locally manufactured long lasting insecticidal
nets being produced in Africa within the next
few years,” said Dr. Lee. “With greater
availability of funding for malaria prevention
and control, getting these nets to the people
who need them will contribute in an important
way in controlling Africa's number one child
killer in a sustainable way.”
For more information on
the fight against malaria, and a chance to
contribute, visit www.who.int
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