Friday, 04/17/2026
Health
Mosquito-repellent Soap Invention Seeks to Fight Malaria in Africa
Update: 04/09/2016
Moctar Dembélé and Gérard Niyondiko, the brains behind Faso\r\nSoap, were awarded a $25,000 prize for their invention in 2013 when they became\r\nthe first African winners of the Global Social Venture Competition at the\r\nUniversity of California Berkeley.
\r\n\r\nYet Faso Soap must be tested to ensure it is safe for human\r\nuse and effective at preventing malaria before it can be mass produced by soap\r\nmanufacturers in Africa, said Franck Langevin, campaigns director for the\r\nOuagadougou-based startup.
\r\n\r\nThe soap, created from natural oils and plants, could prove\r\nsuccessful in preventing malaria as it would be cheap and rely on existing\r\nhabits of African households, Langevin said.
\r\n\r\n"People in Africa are very reluctant to change their\r\nhabits, but soap is present in most homes, and is used for bathing, cleaning\r\nthe house and washing clothes," he said.
\r\n\r\nThe soap is designed to repel mosquitoes up to six hours\r\nafter being applied, and once soapy water is thrown away on the street, hinder\r\nthe insects from breeding in stagnant water.
\r\n\r\n"It is a simple and affordable weapon in the fight\r\nagainst malaria," Langevin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
\r\n\r\nLast month, Faso Soap launched a crowd funding appeal for\r\n$113,000 to finalize the development of the soap with the aim of distributing it\r\nin six African countries hardest-hit by malaria by 2018, working with soap\r\nmanufacturers and aid agencies.
\r\n\r\nLast year, there were 214 million cases of malaria worldwide\r\nwith the mosquito-borne disease killing 438,000 people, most of them in\r\nsub-Saharan Africa.
\r\n\r\nJo Lines, reader of malaria control and vector biology at\r\nthe London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, praised the idea behind the\r\nsoap, but said it would be dangerous to rely on an untested product to protect\r\nagainst malaria.
\r\n\r\nAs a social startup, Langevin said Faso Soap has struggled\r\nto attract funding from donors, including the World Health Organisation (WHO)\r\nand United Nations children's agency (UNICEF), prompting the inventors to turn\r\nto crowd funding.
\r\n\r\nWorld leaders committed to ending malaria by 2030 when they\r\nadopted the Sustainable Development Goals last year.
\r\n\r\nEurope last month became the first region to be declared\r\nmalaria-free after reporting no indigenous cases in 2015, and a former WHO\r\nofficial said the world can eliminate the disease soon, but only with more\r\ninvestment to end and keep it at bay.
By Reuters
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