An innovative village-driven low tech for malaria eradication

Traditionally, malaria control has consisted of chemotherapy using drugs such as chloroquine, sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP, Fansidar) and artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT); and vector control by indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed nets (LLITNs). These control efforts are hindered by antimalarial drug resistance by malaria parasites, which has rendered practically obsolete chloroquine and SP, and currently threatens the future of ACT in Africa. IRS is expensive, requires trained staff, does not reach remote areas (due to bad roads) and is often rejected by communities. LLITNs have poor coverage and are often incorrectly or never used by those who own them.

Uganda’s Med Biotech Laboratories will produce a colorful, insecticide-infused ‘plaster’ for the outside walls of African village homes made from a red soil that is freely available in the region.  1. A local retailer supplies WHO-approved insecticides at a subsidised price (business innovation), 2. Villagers mix red soil and insecticides into plaster which is smeared on mud walls (low tech and social innovation); 3. Malaria transmission occurs indoors at night when adult female mosquitos land on walls; 4. Mosquitos that enter treated huts are killed or repelled, transmission is halted.

An innovative village-driven low tech for malaria eradication

Combination of Interventions
Drug-based Strategies
Insecticide Resistance

Oct 2013 — Mar 2015

Uganda