One of the biggest issues that our partners in Kenya noted was that their children could really use mosquito nets for their beds. You would think that this would have been a problem long ago taken care of, but as this article below points out, nets need to be replaced or treated with anti-mosquito treatments once a year. When you're depending on the kindness of strangers just to eat, something like mosquito nets can often be overlooked. Yet, money spent to take care of children struck with malaria is far greater than the cost of nets. For just 50 Ksh (about 69 cents) a new mosquito net can be bought. It seems like a literal ounce of prevention.
MOSQUITO NETS
Mosquito nets are a very useful and practical way to prevent insect bites. There are a number of things to keep in mind when buying a mosquito net.
The mesh size should be large enough for air circulation but as small as possible to keep out the mosquitoes. A mesh size of 1.2 mm x 1.2 mm is the most common and recommended. For effective malaria protection, the mesh size that is recommended is 120-200 holes per square per inch. Mosquito nets of polyester or polyamide are usually lightweight, long-lasting nets, and are available in different mesh sizes and thread thickness. On the other hand, cotton is susceptible to dampness, and weighs more when wet.
As for the shape of the net, it should obviously be wide enough to cover the person sleeping, without touching them. Rectangular nets offer more room around the person as opposed to the slanted sides of a tent or pyramid shaped net. Either way, the net should be tucked under the mattress. You can use screws, tacks, pins, or hooks to attach the upper point of the net above the bed. Pillows or blankets can be used to build a makeshift wall around the body to avoid touching the net. It is much more efficient to purchase a net that has already been dipped or sprayed with a high quality insecticide such as permethrin. The nets are pre-treated at the netting manufacturing plant and can last up to a year depending on the amount of exposure to sun and rain.
2 comments:
Kenya can thank Western eco-imperialists for the mosquito malaria problem. The DDT scare of several decades ago, since debunked, caused the best antimosquito regimen ever to be rejected, thereby dooming millions of Third World inhabitants to an early grave. Alas, if nets are the best one can do, then so be it.
I didn't realize that there was any debate about DDT use being dangerous. But Randall is partially correct (according to Wikipedia and WHO) in that DDT's curtailment has increased problems in Africa especially. I don't think the ban on DDT has ever been completely refuted, but it might never have been as dangerous as it was made out.
Here is some of the wikipedia entry specifically dealing with DDT use against Malaria:
Malaria remains a major public health challenge in many parts of the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 250 million cases every year, resulting in almost 1 million deaths. About 90% of these deaths occur in Africa, and mostly to children under the age of 5.[77] Spraying DDT is one of many public health interventions currently used to fight the disease. Its use in this context has been called everything from a "miracle weapon [that is] like Kryptonite to the mosquitoes,"[78] to "toxic colonialism."[79]
Before the advent of DDT, aggressive campaigns to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds by drainage or poisoning with Paris green or pyrethrum were used, sometimes successfully, to fight the disease. In many parts of the world, rising standards of living resulted in the elimination of malaria as a collateral benefit of the introduction of window screens and improved sanitation.[17] Today, a variety of interventions are used, and usually many are used simultaneously. These include the use of antimalarial drugs to prevent or treat malaria infections; improvements in public health infrastructure to quickly diagnose, sequester, and treat infected individuals; the distribution of bednets and other methods intended to keep mosquitos from biting humans; and vector control strategies.[77] These include larvaciding with appropriate insecticides, ecological controls such as draining mosquito breeding grounds or introducing fish to eat larva, and indoor residual spraying (IRS) with insecticides. IRS involves the treatment of all interior walls and ceilings with insecticides, and is particularly effective against mosquitoes, since many species will rest on an indoor wall before or after feeding. DDT is one of 12 insecticides approved by the WHO for IRS, and the contemporary DDT debate revolves around how much of a role the chemical should play in this mix of strategies.
The WHO's anti-malaria campaign of the 1950s and 1960s relied heavily on DDT and initially the results were promising, though short lived. Experts tie the resurgence of malaria to numerous factors, including poor leadership, management, and funding of malaria control programs; poverty; civil unrest; and increased irrigation. The evolution of resistance of the malaria parasite to the drugs traditionally used to treat the disease (e.g. chloroquine) and evolution of resistance of mosquitos to insecticides have greatly exacerbated the situation.[13][80] Resistance of mosquitoes to DDT was largely fueled by its often unrestricted use in agriculture. This, coupled with the awareness that DDT may be harmful both to humans and the environment led many governments to restrict or curtail the use of DDT in vector control.[19]
Once the mainstay of anti-malaria campaigns, as of 2006 only 13 countries were still using DDT, including India and some southern African states,[77] though the number is expected to rise.[13]
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