Malaria remains one of the world’s great scourges, striking more than 500 million people every year. The groups most at risk are pregnant women and children younger than five years old. In sub-Saharan Africa, 20 percent of all childhood deaths are from malaria. Pregnant women who contract the mosquito-borne disease can develop severe anemia and give birth to underweight babies. The World Health Organization estimates that 10,000 pregnant woman and 200,000 infants in Africa die from malarial infections every year.

To combat the disease, many development agencies have focused on distributing mosquito nets that would protect Africans from being bitten while they sleep. This strategy has resulted in a huge upsurge in the number of bed nets supplied to the population as a whole and particularly to pregnant women and young children. The widespread distribution, however, has not resulted in a significant decrease in malaria. Many doctors in sub-Saharan Africa attribute the failure to an overreliance on nets in lieu of other interventions, such as the indoor spraying of dwellings with insecticide. Other experts say the problem is the misuse of mosquito nets; there is anecdotal evidence that some people have employed the nets as wedding veils or fishing aids. Some economists argue that charging a small fee for the nets would increase the likelihood that they would be used appropriately. Others claim such a fee would prevent a large part of the population from receiving nets. These are valuable debates. Before delving into behavioral economics, though, it might be useful to consider a more basic problem: the mosquito nets are poorly designed.

The bed nets distributed by governments and international organizations have one of two basic designs: circular or rectangular. The circular design hangs from the ceiling by one string, with the net fanning out from a ring at the top and tucked tightly under the mattress on all sides. The rectangular design ties to the ceiling with four strings and hangs straight down on all sides of the bed, with the fringes again tucked under the mattress. Both designs work well for middle-class homes with flat ceilings and a bed for every member of the family. But most of the poor in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in rural areas, live in mud huts, often with thatched roofs.

Hanging mosquito nets is very difficult in these homes, and most people prefer the circular nets because they are easier to hang. Although the rectangular nets can be used without a bed, the circular nets cannot, because they have to be tucked under the mattress to fan out. In many African communities, most children younger than five sleep on the floor, so only the rectangular nets would be effective. But the rectangular nets take up quite a bit of room in a mud hut and have to be taken down and rehung every night for the hut to be of use during the day. Given the difficulty of hanging the nets, it is unreasonable to expect people to follow this routine.

A design more suited to the needs of young children would be a net that does not hang at all. One possibility would be a collapsible, tentlike structure, very similar to the crawl-through children’s toys that clutter so many playrooms in the U.S. The challenge would be to make the structure both affordable to produce and durable enough to be used daily for years. In addition to being user-friendly, this free-standing mosquito net would have to be sized for children to ensure that it is used by the intended recipients rather than older, hardier members of the family.

Mosquito nets have been changed before to meet user needs. Several companies have recently introduced nets that are impregnated with long-lasting insecticide, eliminating the need for people to continually apply fresh coatings of chemicals to the nets. Companies must continue to improve mosquito nets if progress is to be made in combating malaria. And once better nets are available, researchers will be able to objectively judge the effectiveness of the distribution programs.

This article was originally published with the title A Better Mosquito Net.

8 Comments

1. 1. scheff 09:59 PM 12/27/07

   Is there a serious discussion of alternative mosquito net ideas for children? I have several ideas to contribute, but don't know where or how.

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2. 2. Andrew Walsh 04:45 AM 1/8/08

   I am a manufacturer and have a self supporting mosquito net (and have been selling it for a few years here in Australia). This design is perfect for where there is no where to hang a traditional style bed net. Our net also comes with a removable floor (ie. good on bed and on the ground), and can be easily treated. Our design folds up very small, making it much better than any other available alternative (design has a patent). For more info please email me at andrew@equip.com.au or phone 61 3 6349 1929 or visit www.equip.com.au. I welcome talking to anyone who would like to distribute this product to north america. Kind regards Andrew Walsh, General Manager Equip Health Systems Pty Ltd

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3. 3. Spedders 04:17 PM 4/4/08

   There are other "pop-up" nets which are very suitable for beds available from the UK and does not hang but encloses the bed or matress area. www.mosinet.co.uk

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4. 4. NashG 02:46 AM 3/30/09

   Thanks for the inf.
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5. 5. NashG 02:47 AM 3/30/09

   To combat the disease, many development agencies have focused on distributing mosquito nets that would protect Africans from being bitten while they sleep.
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6. 6. rcpayyur 11:45 AM 4/1/09

   I have designed a type of Mosquito Net , for which Iwish to apply for Patent. This tpe of net will eliminate many inherent problems of fixing net, even in congested places.
   I would like to get some sponsors to develope this tpye of Mosquito Nets, and distribute to the deserving communities, as well as sell it in the market.

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7. 7. seejeffgo 12:21 PM 5/4/09

   A much more simple would be to spray DDT which has been proven to be not only very effective but also safe. If we did this in sub-Saharan Africa we would save millions of lives.

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8. 8. irvque101 in reply to rcpayyur 10:22 AM 5/20/09

   I am interested. Please forward information on how you can be helped. Also send whatever information you can without revealing patent details.
   
   Irvin queen ,,,,, irvque@verizon.net

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