News

DDT: Sniffing Out Excellent White Powder

Bart Knols | 22 Jun 2023 | TH!NK ABOUT IT

No, no, it's not that white stuff. It's that other white powder. The one that makes some of us go mad with anger, whilst others relentlessly defend its use. That some claim will give you breast cancer, whilst others say you can drink and inhale it without any harm.

BURKINA FASO: Testing indoor spray for malaria prevention

None | 02 Jun 2023 | IRIN News

Health teams are spraying homes with insecticide in the high-risk southwest, in Burkina Faso's first trial of the method to combat malaria. In 2009 the disease struck more than 20,000 people and killed 110 in the targeted district, according to the Health Ministry.

The Excellent Powder: DDT in Book Review

Michael Shaw | 24 May 2023 | HealthNewsDigest.com

It's well past time that a comprehensive review of DDT should appear, and the authors—all connected with the organization Africa Fighting Malaria [www.fightingmalaria.org]—have done a bravura job. Replete with footnotes, the work is accessible to the lay reader.

Indoor residual spraying to control malaria: how effective is it?

Paul Chinnock | 06 May 2023 | Tropika.net

IRS is accepted as being an effective way of killing mosquitoes and of reducing rates of malaria transmission. IRS, using the insecticide DDT, is generally credited with much of the success achieved in eradicating malaria from several countries (mostly in the Americas and Europe) in the 1950s.

In Africa, anti-malaria mosquito nets go unused by recipients

Sonia Shah | 02 May 2023 | Los Angeles Times

Last week, in honor of World Malaria Day, viewers of "American Idol" were urged to donate $10 for an insecticide-treated bed net to save an African child from malaria, the mosquito-transmitted scourge that infects about 300 million people every year, killing nearly 1 million.

Bed nets for all?

None | 30 Apr 2023 | guardian.co.uk

There is a river which runs through Goundry, a village in rural Burkina Faso, West Africa. Actually it's more of a stream with lots of exposed riverbed even as the rainy season finishes. And among the still pools of mustard-coloured water, if you look closely enough, you can see the darting of tiny mosquito larvae.

From wonder chemical to environmental pariah -- and back again

Barbara Hollingsworth | 27 Apr 2023 | The Washington Examiner

DDT went from wonder chemical to environmental pariah right after the publication of Rachel Carson's "Secret Spring" in 1962, so defending it must be like accepting a job as Charles Manson's PR guy.

New book urges reversal of DDT ban to fight malaria

Tim Cocks | 21 Apr 2023 | Reuters

Six years after the insect killer DDT was globally outlawed on grounds of environmental damage, two researchers say there are new reasons for doubting the chemical is harmful and are urging its use against malaria.

Govt takes Malaria campaign to households

Joy Wanja | 08 Apr 2024 | Daily Nation

The government will next week roll out an indoor residual spraying campaign in Rift Valley and Nyanza provinces to prevent a probable malaria outbreak.

Lagos steps up malaria war with indoor spraying

Joshua Bassey | 19 Mar 2024 | Businessday

Lagos State government has begun the pilot scheme of the IRS in two high malaria burden areas in the Ikorodu and Otto-Awori in Ojo area of the state, commissioner for health, Jide Idris has said.