1 Dollar mosquito bednet - your opinion please (2)
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Source: malaria@wehi.edu.au
There has bee a great deal of discussion about the $1.00 bed net which
would last one year. My feeling is that this would be counter produc-
tive. When people pay for a commodity (and remember that in rural ar-
eas, even USD 1.00 is a lot of money) they would be put off if the item
must be discarded after a short time, rather they would try to "make
do": with a torn or disintegrating net, thus defeating the objec-
tive....which is to control malaria.
My feeling is that we should concentrate on developing more durable
netting (such as produced by SiamDutch) of 100D polyester with 15 mesh
holes. Nets made from this may be more costly, but could be subsidised
through multilateral support, so that the end cost is still affordable,
and something which the people will respect...
Clive Shiff
School of Hygiene & Public
Health Johns Hopkins University
615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore MD 21205, USA
Tel: +1-410-955-1263
Fax: +1-410-955-0105
mailto:cshiff@jhsph.edu
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