Kenya: Use of Treated Bed Nets a Better Option Than DDT Sprays

23 September 2006
column

Nairobi — The World Health Organisation's new stance on DDT, yet again only goes to show how so many in the West throw out opinions without really understanding the context or culture of Africa. The WHO recently forcefully endorsed wider use of the insecticide across Africa to exterminate and repel the mosquitoes that carry malaria. Currently, the disease needlessly kills more than a million people a year, 800,000 of them young children in Africa.

Dr Arata Kochi, director of the WHO malaria programme, has announced that DDT is the most effective insecticide against malaria. However, those of us in Africa have to think logically and realistically about the socio-economic context in which we work. The first question is whether or not Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) is better than the widespread use of insecticide-treated nets.

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