President's Malaria Initiative

Fact Sheet on Insecticide-Treated Mosquito Nets (ITNs)

• The President's Malaria Initiative uses a comprehensive and sustainable approach to saving lives. One of its key methods is the distribution of insecticide-treated bednets both to prevent insect bites and to kill mosquitoes. This selective use of insecticides that kill or repel the malaria transmitting mosquito is indispensable in the fight against the disease. Insecticide treated nets are also highly deployable in rural Africa using the existing commercial sector, community groups and public sector infrastructure.

• Other methods included in the President's Malaria Initiative include the purchase and distribution of medicines for treatment; distribution of medicines for prevention of malaria in pregnancy; and indoor spraying with insecticides to kill mosquitoes.

• Insecticide-treated mosquito nets, or ITNs, are one of the most effective methods to prevent malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. Over a million people die every year as a result of the disease, the majority of its victims being pregnant women and children under age 5 living in African rural communities. Pregnant women and children benefit the most from its protective measures. By promoting and supporting the widespread use of insecticide-treated nets, and recommending pregnant women and small children sleep under the nets to help prevent malaria, the United States is protecting millions of children and mothers in Africa from one of the most serious threats to their survival.

• A simple bed net treated or dipped in an insecticide is a proven and cost-effective way to fight the disease and save lives as it repels or kills malaria-carrying mosquitoes, which transmit the parasite that causes malaria by biting a person mainly between dusk and dawn. Specifically, the insecticides bind to the bed nets and last up to three years, giving each family sleeping under the net protection from the primary transmitter of the malaria virus - the female Anopheles species of mosquito.

• Consistently sleeping under an ITN has been shown to decrease severe malaria by 45 percent, reduce premature births by 42 percent and cut child deaths by as much as 63 percent.

• The PMI is expanding access to free or highly subsidized nets while also creating commercial markets in African countries. It supports the provision of free nets to those at highest risk from malaria-pregnant women and children under age 5, particularly infants-and to those who cannot afford to purchase a mosquito net. It also provides low-cost ITNs where they are needed most and sells subsidized nets to increase demand, availability, and affordability among vulnerable populations.

• In just a year of implementation, the PMI has delivered more than 1 million insecticide-treated nets to protect at least 2 million people. This includes the distribution of free long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets (LLINs) to children and pregnant women in internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Uganda and through voucher programs like the one in Tanzania where, in partnership with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, pregnant women and infants get a voucher they can use at participating retail outlets to receive a mosquito net.

• The PMI has also delivered nets as part of an integrated national child health campaign in Angola that included measles vaccinations, Vitamin A supplements, and de-worming medication. This strategy of combining ITN distribution with measles vaccinations and other health interventions was piloted two years ago. About 800,000 (of which 420,000 were provided by PMI) long-lasting insecticide treated nets (LLIN) were distributed across seven provinces where malaria transmission rates are highest in Angola.

• And in Uganda, an insecticide re-treatment program for 505,000 bed nets is protecting more than 1 million residents from malaria in 28 districts there. In a new technique, known as the plastic bag method, a trained dipper in each village treats an older net by immersing it in a plastic bag containing insecticides. This easily managed program allows a large number of nets to be re-treated. This particular malaria intervention is significant because it demonstrates how a small investment can result in so many lives saved. Re-treating bed nets is arguably one of the most cost-effective ways of preventing malaria.