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Mosquito Nets Saving Lives

Organizations such as the WHO and UNICEF have long recognized the effectiveness of insecticide-treated mosquito netting in preventing malaria. Several years ago, the Japanese government donated Olyset® net to Tanzania through Official Development Assistance, but the nets hardly sold at all. One reason was their relatively high cost, but the policies of the WHO were also partly to blame. At the time, the WHO endorsed a surface treated net that had to be periodically re-treated by dipping in insecticide. Views began to change, however, as the lack of effectiveness of this kind of netting became clear. The insecticide wears off when the netting is washed, so periodic re-treatment is absolutely necessary to maintain effectiveness. The extra effort required meant that, in practice, very few people maintained the mosquito-repellant properties of their netting. The focus then suddenly shifted to Sumitomo Chemical’s Olyset® net. Itoh had foreseen the problems with re-treated netting and asked for an official evaluation of Olyset® net from the WHO. The evaluation cost $35,000, of which Sumitomo Chemical shouldered the whole amount. Itoh recalls that, since there was no guarantee that the project would ever turn a profit, he “was extremely grateful that my boss decided to support it.” In the end, Itoh’s hunch proved correct, and the WHO tests confirmed that Olyset® net effectiveness lasted at least five years even with washing—at the same time earning it the WHO’s seal of approval.

An African mother and child sleep under Olyset® net, which allows the mother to feed her child and both to sleep in safety.

	Free Donation of Technology
	These events moved the WHO to change direction, from pushing nets requiring re-treatment to urging the use of LLINs. Visiting Sumitomo Chemical in 2000, WHO officials asked the company to increase its production of Olyset® net. “We produced and supplied the WHO with 100,000 nets in 2002 and 1.2 million in 2003, and we’re working to turn out 3 million in 2004. We’re proud that our nets are helping save lives by preventing malaria,” says Hideaki Kumagai, manager of the Asia Pacific Marketing Department in the International Environmental Health Division at Sumitomo Chemical. In April 2000, representatives from 44 African countries where malaria is a problem gathered in Abuja, Nigeria, for a summit on the disease. They agreed on a resolution that called for 60% of pregnant women and children of age five and under—those most vulnerable to the disease—to be using Insecticide Treated Nets by 2005. The WHO and UNICEF are also working towards this goal, which requires some 30 million nets of this kind—a massive volume for anybody to produce. So when the WHO asked Sumitomo Chemical to transfer its Olyset® net production technology to Africa, the company gladly complied. In the end, Sumitomo Chemical transferred its technology to the Tanzanian company AtoZ Textile Mills Limited, and it even dispatched engineers to aid in the process—all as a free donation. AtoZ Textile Mills began local production of the Olyset® net in 2003, and recently celebrated the launching of Olyset® net as the first locally-produced LLIN in Africa. The event was attended by the president of Tanzania as well as international leaders of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership and The Global Fund. Itoh, who himself contracted malaria 15 years ago, commented on the technology transfer: “As of now, a total of 2 million Olyset® nets are being used in 35 African countries. Before, almost no one used mosquito nets in many parts of Africa, but now the nets are widely distributed in the cities of all these countries. Malaria prevention is now in the process of permeating African culture. We have not yet begun serious monitoring of the effectiveness of the Olyset® net, but we do have one piece of data: all 1,600 AtoZ employees now use the nets, and none are getting sick with the disease, leading to a rise in productivity. The company is very pleased.” Sumitomo Chemical is now working on a project using its Olyset® technology to create resin film treated with insecticide for use in wallpaper. With such wallpaper, an entire house could act to prevent malaria. A hammock with these properties is already being tested for use in Asia. If Olyset® technology finds more uses in more locations, then there is a very real possibility that deaths from malaria could decline sharply in the near future.	Hideaki Kumagai, manager, Asia Pacific Marketing Dept., International Environmental Health Division, Sumitomo Chemical