One of the biggest producers of mosquito nets globally is partnering with the Nigerian government to establish a facility in the country that would serve as the first manufacturing hub for insecticide-treated nets in West Africa, and the first across the continent to produce a new generation of nets that are deemed more effective in fighting insecticide-resistant mosquitoes.
Last week, Vestergaard signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nigerian government, paving the way for it to enter into a joint venture with a local manufacturing partner to produce its dual-active ingredient insecticide-treated nets called PermaNet Dual.
Dual-active ingredient nets, as the name suggests, contain two different insecticides. They are a new generation of nets deemed more effective than the standard insecticide-treated nets when used against mosquitoes that have formed resistance to pyrethroid, the key ingredient in malaria nets for decades. Resistance to the insecticide is widespread in Africa and is seen as a threat to malaria control efforts.