For over 10 years now Eritrea, a small country in East Africa, has been winning the Malaria War without vaccines, though much work remains to be done. Since 2005 I have been monitoring the reduction in Malaria mortality here in Eritrea and have seen a consistant reduction of between 70-80%, something almost unknown in Africa and the rest of the 3rd world for such an extended period.
Eritrea’s victories in the Malaria War have been done via old fashioned barefoot doctors distributing and maintaining insecticide treated mosquito nets through out the malaria belt in Eritrea.
Many countries have handed out millions of insecticide treated mosquito nets donated by the likes of the World Bank (51% owned by the USA) only to see the insecticide wear off in 3 months and the nets loose more than half their effectiveness. If you have ever slept under mosquito nets for very long you will find that sooner or later you end up with a hole in the net or touching the net while sleeping. It only takes a couple of minutes for that nasty critter Aegypti species to
smell you out, work its way through the hole or bite you right through the net and voila, you got malaria. Only treated nets prevent this with the insecticide keeping the mosquitos from getting near the net..