Long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets: effects of washing processes on pesticide residues, and human and environmental exposure

Malaria is one of the public health problems in the world. More than 3.3 billion people are at risk of malaria. Children under the age of five year, and pregnant women are most severely affected. The disease is transmitted to human through the bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus Anopheles. Nowadays Long-Lasting Insecticidal Mosquito Nets (LNs) are the most popular and useful tools for malaria control. At the same time LNs face some challenges as the need for reliable methods to check the amount of pesticide used on the nets. Also there is a need to know if the LNs are still effective against mosquitoes after a certain time. In addition, some questions arise: ‘How should LNs be used and washed?’ ‘Which detergent should be used during the washing process?’ ‘How should LNs dry, indoor or outdoor, exposed to or avoiding sunlight?’ Next to the focus on the quality and efficacy of the LNs, as they contain pesticides the use of LNs may lead to human and environmental exposure to pesticide residues. From this, following questions arise: ‘Are LNs safe for human contact?’ ‘What about the long term effects of human exposure?’ ‘Knowing that pesticides are released during the washing step, what is the potential of LNs to contaminate water resources?’ From the questions mentioned above, the following objectives were put forward: 1. to review literature and to situate Long-Lasting Insecticidal Mosquito Nets (LNs) along the effective methods for malaria vector control; 2. to validate a suitable analytical method to analyze insecticides commonly used in LNs; 3. to evaluate the effect of washing on the release of the insecticide active ingredient content for different brands of LNs; 4. to evaluate the effect of UV light on the breakdown of the active ingredient content of LNs; 5. to compare the laboratory hand washing simulation to a domestic washing method with a proposed detergent; 6. to develop an approach to assess the dermal and inhalation exposure for people sleeping under LNs; 7. to assess environmental ...