Meant to keep malaria out, mosquito nets are used to fish in Africa

desmond frimpong

February 12, 2018 9:57 AM

Poverty has forced people to turn mosquito nets to fishing nets and efforts to limit mosquito net fishing may end up hurting people who are just trying to get by.

Millions of mosquito nets are given out fight to malaria in Africa, yet many faced with hunger use them as fish nets, creating potential environmental problems.

This development was brought to bear by a new research, published in the journal PLOS ONE

Nearly half a million people die of malaria each year, 90% of whom live in Africa. This number has come down dramatically since the turn of the century.

Between 2000 and 2015 major international interventions, including the distribution of mosquito nets, has resulted in a 42% reduction in new malaria cases and a 66% fall in malarial mortality.

More than 290 million mosquito nets were distributed in sub-Saharan Africa between 2008 and 2010.

However, poverty has forced people to turn mosquito nets to fishing nets and efforts to limit mosquito net fishing may end up hurting people who are just trying to get by.

The research further stated that mosquito nets are being used for the protection of pests, chicken coops, rope, football goals and wedding veils.

Fishing with mosquito nets is also widely considered to be environmentally destructive and a threat to fish. A number of countries, including Tanzania, Kenya and Madagascar, have tried to control the use of nets by imposing restrictions on the mesh size that can be used.

It’s easy to criticise poor communities for the misuse of this resource. But for a family, securing protein today may trump preventing malaria tomorrow.

A quantitative study on the coast of Kenya shows that while mosquito net fishing is locally common, it may not always affect malaria protection.

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desmond frimpong

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