A large-scale clinical trial across 17 African countries has found that a new generation of mosquito bed nets can reduce malaria transmission by up to 50%. The nets work by combining a second insecticide with the standard pyrethroid coating — a direct response to growing mosquito resistance that has been quietly eroding one of global health’s most relied-upon tools.
At a glance
- Dual-insecticide nets: Nets coated with either pyriproxyfen or chlorfenapyr alongside standard pyrethroid reduced malaria transmission by between 20% and 50% during trials held from 2019 C.E. to 2022 C.E.
- Malaria burden: More than 600,000 people died from the disease in 2022 C.E. and 249 million were infected, with over 90% of cases and deaths occurring in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
- Rollout cost: The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria is supplying the new nets for under $3 each — comparable to older products — and estimates countries could save up to $30 million by switching.
Why mosquito nets needed an upgrade
Bed nets have been a cornerstone of malaria prevention since the 1990s C.E. For decades, pyrethroid-treated nets were one of the most cost-effective public health tools ever deployed, credited with saving millions of lives across sub-Saharan Africa.
But mosquitoes adapt. Widespread pyrethroid resistance has been building for years, and researchers have flagged it as a serious threat to progress. The new nets are a direct answer to that problem — layering a second insecticide that works through a different mechanism, so that resistant mosquitoes no longer simply walk away unharmed.
Pyriproxyfen disrupts mosquito reproduction. Chlorfenapyr interferes with energy production in insect cells. Neither replaces pyrethroid — they work alongside it, hitting mosquitoes through more than one pathway at once.
A trial built for scale
The trial, called the New Nets Project, was funded by the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the global health organisation Unitaid. It ran across 17 countries where malaria is endemic, including Nigeria — which alone accounts for more than a quarter of global malaria deaths.
The Global Fund says uptake of the new nets was faster and wider than expected. Plans are already in place to continue distribution at scale across the 17 trial countries and expand to additional nations.
Michael Charles, CEO of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, put the results in context: “There is no silver bullet to eliminating malaria and we cannot rely on single interventions, but rather invest in a suite of tools. The dual-insecticide nets are a shining example of one of these tools.”
Part of a wider shift in malaria prevention
The bed net results arrive as the malaria prevention toolkit is expanding in other ways too. In January 2024 C.E., Cameroon became the first country to roll out the RTS,S malaria vaccine. Another 19 African countries are expected to follow with their own vaccine introductions this year, including Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, and Liberia — all of which also took part in the bed net trials.
That overlap matters. Combining a more effective physical barrier with a vaccine targeting the parasite at a different stage of infection creates the kind of layered defense that researchers say is essential for countries where transmission is high and health systems are stretched.
The WHO’s World Malaria Report has repeatedly emphasized that no single intervention will be enough. The dual-insecticide nets, at under $3 each, represent one of the most affordable additions to that toolkit in years.
What still needs work
A 20–50% reduction range is meaningful, but the upper end of that range won’t be universal — effectiveness varies by region, mosquito species, and how consistently nets are used and maintained. Scaling up manufacturing and distribution across dozens of countries with fragile supply chains also remains a real logistical challenge. Progress here is genuine, but it’s one piece of a long fight.
Read more
For more on this story, see: The Guardian
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- The Good News for Humankind archive on global health
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