Impregnated nets to fight malaria

The Central African Republic needs 100,000 mosquito nets to undertake a major effort soon to fight malaria in the capital. "With 100,000 mosquito nets, we hope to protect 60 percent of the population of Bangui," Dr Etienne Dolido, head of the Anti-Endemic Disease Programme in the Health Ministry, told IRIN on Wednesday. The nets are to be soaked in insecticides lethal to mosquitoes, and which are effective for six months. He said World Health Organisation (WHO) had agreed to provide US $15,000 towards the purchase of the nets, and that the EU, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Japanese government had also agreed to contribute. The nets, expected to be available in three weeks, will be sold at a low cost to the public. The price is yet to be determined. The decision to distribute impregnated bed-nets to the capital’s 600,000 residents was taken at a meeting on 4 October attended by Ministry of Health officials and those of the WHO, the UN Children’s Fund, UNFPA, the Pasteur Institute, and the EU. The country lies in the heart of a malaria-infested region. A 2001 report by the Ministry of Health revealed that 30 percent of hospital patients suffered from malaria, and that the disease was the leading cause of death in the country.