Japan's Kansai to help Zambia fight malaria

LUSAKA (Reuters) – Kansai Plascon, owned by Kansai Paint Co Ltd (Tokyo), has launched the world 's first mosquito repellent paint in Zambia to help it reach the goal of the world. Malaria elimination by 2021, announced the company and a Japanese government official.

Malaria-transmitted malaria is a treatable disease if detected early, but current antimalarial drugs are failing in many areas as people develop resistance to them.

Zambia wants to eradicate malaria, the deadliest in southern Africa, within three years of halving the number of deaths from the disease last year, starting in 2014, the government said in June .

Hanai Junichi, the Zambian representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said his agency was implementing the initiative in partnership with Kansai.

"A study conducted over the past two years with 400 households by the Zambian Ministry of Health has shown that painting is very effective and safe for humans," Junichi told Reuters.

While mosquito nets, prophylactics and insecticide sprays are still used, the disease continues to claim more than a million deaths on the African continent each year, the company said.

Paint technology disrupts the mosquito's nervous system on contact, reducing its ability to stay on the walls where the paint has been applied.

The insect usually arises on vertical structures, which is why interior walls have been central to malaria control efforts, such as spraying DDT on them.

"The knock-down effect lasts up to two years and provides lasting protection against infection with malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases," said Kansai.

The world has made tremendous progress against malaria since 2000, with death rates down by 60% and at least six million lives saved worldwide, WHO said.

But efforts to end one of the world's deadliest diseases – killing an estimated 430,000 people a year, mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa – are threatened by growing mosquito resistance to measures such as mosquito nets and mosquito nets. drugs.