18 August 2009
UN confirms bed-nets not slept under, used for fishing
The UN continues to boast of millions of dollars of public money being spent on bed-nets, this time on a project in Tanzania costing $111 million.
However, the inefficiency of such schemes is infamous. Some factors are now confirmed by Ray Chambers, the UN's special envoy for malaria, who admits that people often use the nets "to catch fish".
He also confirms that "one out of two people will not sleep under a net". This blog has previously noted how people find nets uncomfortable, or simply not much use when their living conditions are particularly poor. Furthermore, they often need to be retreated with insecticides every few months.
It is no myth that they are often sold on to make fishing nets or wedding dresses.
Amusingly this story comes just days after the news that a team of peacekeepers avoided malaria entirely by - shock horror - killing as many mosquitoes as possible. The team used housefly killing machines to protect them from mosquitoes, and remarkably the infection rate plummeted all the way down to zero.
Presumably it's too late to reinvest that $111,000,000.