Cloth Wraps Treated With ‘Dirt Cheap’ Insecticide Cut Malaria Cases In Babies

From Africa to Latin America to Asia, babies have been carried in cloth wraps on their mothers’ backs for centuries. Now, the practice of generations of women could become a lifesaving tool in the fight against malaria.

Researchers in Uganda have found that treating wraps with the insect repellent permethrin cut rates of malaria in the infants carried in them by two-thirds.

Malaria kills more than 600,000 people a year, most of whom are children in Africa under five years old.

Continue reading to learn more about how permethrin is used to cut malaria cases in babies, written by Kat Lay.

The Guardian: Cloth Wraps Treated With ‘Dirt Cheap’ Insecticide Cut Malaria Cases In Babies

Woman in red shirt picking berries from a bush with a baby carried on her back in a patterned cloth.
Woman in red shirt picking berries from a bush with a baby carried on her back in a patterned cloth.

Cloth Wraps Treated With ‘Dirt Cheap’ Insecticide Cut Malaria Cases In Babies

From Africa to Latin America to Asia, babies have been carried in cloth wraps on their mothers’ backs for centuries. Now, the practice of generations of women could become a lifesaving tool in the fight against malaria.

Researchers in Uganda have found that treating wraps with the insect repellent permethrin cut rates of malaria in the infants carried in them by two-thirds.

Malaria kills more than 600,000 people a year, most of whom are children in Africa under five years old.

Continue reading to learn more about how permethrin is used to cut malaria cases in babies, written by Kat Lay.

Photo thumbnail Blog Author
Global Health Correspondent
Kat Lay
Kat Lay is the Guardian's global health correspondent.
Media Mentions

The Guardian: Cloth Wraps Treated With ‘Dirt Cheap’ Insecticide Cut Malaria Cases In Babies

Woman in red shirt picking berries from a bush with a baby carried on her back in a patterned cloth.
Woman in red shirt picking berries from a bush with a baby carried on her back in a patterned cloth.

Cloth Wraps Treated With ‘Dirt Cheap’ Insecticide Cut Malaria Cases In Babies

From Africa to Latin America to Asia, babies have been carried in cloth wraps on their mothers’ backs for centuries. Now, the practice of generations of women could become a lifesaving tool in the fight against malaria.

Researchers in Uganda have found that treating wraps with the insect repellent permethrin cut rates of malaria in the infants carried in them by two-thirds.

Malaria kills more than 600,000 people a year, most of whom are children in Africa under five years old.

Continue reading to learn more about how permethrin is used to cut malaria cases in babies, written by Kat Lay.

Photo thumbnail Blog Author
Global Health Correspondent
Kat Lay
Kat Lay is the Guardian's global health correspondent.
Media Mentions
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