HWN Suggests

Why nets?

The most effective means of preventing malaria is sleeping under a mosquito net, specifically a long-lasting insecticide treated net (LLIN). Malaria is transmitted by certain mosquitoes when they bite. These mosquitoes bite people to get a blood meal. The malaria parasite then passes from the infected mosquito to the person being bitten. They typically bite between 10 o'clock at night and two in the morning - and that's one of the most important things we have on our side: if we can protect people in affected areas when they sleep at night we have a very good chance of preventing them contracting malaria.

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 Antimalarial-treated bed nets could stop parasites developing in mosquitoes

In a fresh approach to blocking transmission of the malaria parasite by mosquitoes, potent antimalarial compounds that kill parasites in mosquitoes are incorporated into bed-net prototypes. Exposure to the compounds through bed-net contact prevents parasite development, even when infection takes place four days later.

 Bed Nets That Target Parasites, Not Just Mosquitoes

How next-generation bed nets could stop malaria by killing the parasites inside mosquitoes, not just the mosquitoes themselves.

 The next-generation mosquito net that’s turning the tide on malaria

In the 1990s, bed nets with the insecticide pyrethroid came onto the global scene. They drastically reduced malaria cases—at least, at first. Mosquitoes, it turns out, are brilliant at survival and quickly developed resistance, pushing malaria numbers back up. “It was a major public health problem,” said medical entomologist Corine Ngufor, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who grew up in Cameroon. “I lived in an area with a lot of malaria.” Children got sick regularly—some even up to five times in one year. The new Interceptor G2 cut malaria rates by about half in countries like Mozambique. “Epidemiological data showed these new nets looked twice as effective at protecting children from getting malaria than the old nets,” said McClean. “We knew we had something important.”

Articles of Interest

Malaria-preventing bed nets save children’s lives—with impacts that can last for decades

Since the 1990s, bed nets impregnated with insecticides have been an invaluable tool for malaria prevention. Babies and young children who sleep under them are far less likely to die of the disease. But some scientists have worried this might increase the risk of contracting malaria later in life by preventing development of the immunity that protects older children and adults in areas where malaria is common. Now, an ambitious new study allays those fears. Thousands of people who slept under bed nets as youngsters in the late 1990s and early 2000s in Tanzania still have a significant survival advantage through young adulthood over peers who did not.

New types of mosquito bed nets could cut malaria risk by up to half, trial finds

Two new types of mosquito bed nets have been found to reduce cases of malaria by up to a half, raising hopes of combating the disease, which is becoming increasingly resistant to treatments and prevention efforts. Nets treated with two types of insecticide rather than one were trialled in 17 African countries where malaria is endemic between 2019 and 2022. Among the countries taking part was Nigeria, which accounts for more than a quarter of global deaths from the disease, which is transmitted by mosquitoes.

Insecticide-Treated Nets

Insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) are a form of personal protection and mosquito control that reduce malaria illness, severe disease, and death due to malaria in endemic regions. In community-wide trials in several African settings, ITNs reduced the death of children under 5 years from all causes by about 20%.

Insecticide-Treated Nets May Create Super Mosquitoes

Two species of mosquitos have interbred, giving rise to hybrids that can resist the most potent weapons used against them.

Insecticide-treated nets significantly harm mosquitoes, but one can easily offset this?

According to the GPT Pain-Track from the Welfare Footprint Project (WFP), “Insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) [link] are not only lethal to mosquitoes but also cause significant suffering before death. When mosquitoes come into contact with the insecticide, their nervous systems are disrupted, leading to intense and prolonged effects.

Laced With Two Insecticides, New Nets Protect Children From Malaria

The new nets contain pyrethroids, a class of chemicals used in nets for over a decade, along with the newer compound, piperonyl butoxide, which blocks mosquitoes’ ability to break down pyrethroids. (It is sometimes called a “pesticide synergist.”)

Malaria: should we abandon insecticide-treated bednets?

By making new insecticidal products - or finding alternative or other complementary solutions - we may be able to start killing these resistant mosquitoes again. As we wait for these developments, we should continue to use mosquito insecticide-treated bednets. Despite the rapid spread of insecticide resistance, they are still the most effective method to prevent malaria transmission.

Mosquito nets are often used for fishing. A smart response is needed

The human race is extremely resourceful, particularly when resources are limited. Inevitably, when poor rural communities are given access to a new asset they will find a number of uses for them. Anti-malarial bednets - the fine-mesh nets used to protect people from mosquito bites while they sleep – are a good case in point.

Promising New Bed Net Strategy To Zap Malaria Parasite In Mosquitoes

The World Health Organization credits insecticide-treated bed nets with preventing an estimated 1.3 billion cases of malaria and 6.8 million deaths from the disease since the year 2000. But there's concern that mosquitoes are evolving resistance against the one class of insecticide used on the nets — pyrethroids. Many scientists believe the rapid emergence of insecticide resistance could be slowing efforts to eradicate the disease.

Scientists hail malaria breakthrough as bed nets prove deadly to mosquitoes

A bed net designed to kill insecticide-resistant mosquitoes could prevent millions of cases of malaria across sub-Saharan Africa, scientists have found.A two-year clinical trial in Burkina Faso showed that dousing bed nets with a combination of chemicals resulted in a 12% reduction in clinical malaria cases, compared with conventional bed nets.

The New Debate Over Bed Nets And Malaria Prevention

Have bed nets lost their power to protect people from malaria-carrying mosquitoes? That's the subject of debate among researchers looking for ways to cut down on malaria cases and deaths. Over the past two decades, the insecticide-treated bed net has been one of the most powerful tools against malaria. The nets work in two ways. They block mosquitoes from biting people while they sleep, and the insecticide kills mosquitoes that try to penetrate the webbing and fail. So the nets not only provide protection for a single individual, they reduce the overall number of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in a community.

The Unsustainability of Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets

Long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are highly effective tools for malaria prevention, and it is clear bed nets are necessary. However, given the environmental concerns of the production, distribution, and disposal of LLINs, the malaria prevention community should look to design sturdier nets that last longer and are made of more sustainable materials to reduce harmful environmental impacts in a time when addressing climate change is urgent.