Nigeria starts making ‘double-action’ mosquito nets that can kill resistant mosquitoes — here’s how they work

• Nigeria has started locally producing new mosquito nets designed to tackle insecticide-resistant mosquitoes.

• The double-action nets use two insecticides with different modes of action to kill mosquitoes.

• The new factory in Lagos is expected to produce up to 10 million nets yearly and create more than 600 jobs.

For a country where malaria still sends millions of people to hospitals, keeps parents awake through feverish nights and claims thousands of lives every year, a mosquito net may sound like a simple solution until you find that the mosquitoes themselves are now moving differently.

The latest data from the World Health Organisation show just how serious Nigeria’s malaria problem remains. 

In 2024, Nigeria was the country with the largest malaria burden, with about 24.3% of malaria cases worldwide and 30.3% of global malaria deaths. Estimates based on WHO data put Nigeria’s 2024 malaria cases at about 68.5 million, with roughly 184,830 deaths.

Now, Nigeria is fighting back by producing a new type of mosquito net, PermaNet Dual, locally at Health Textiles Nigeria FZE, a company wholly owned by Swiss-based Vestergaard, at its facility in the Lagos Free Zone.

The facility is the first in Nigeria to manufacture insecticide-treated nets containing two active ingredients. At full scale, it is expected to produce up to 10 million nets each year and employ more than 600 people.

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Ordinary insecticide-treated nets already do an important job. They create a physical barrier between people and mosquitoes. The insecticide on the net kills or repels mosquitoes that touch it.

The problem is that mosquitoes can develop resistance to insecticides, particularly the pyrethroids traditionally used on many mosquito nets.

PermaNet Dual is designed to tackle that problem by combining two insecticides with different modes of action: deltamethrin, a pyrethroid, and chlorfenapyr, a pyrrole insecticide.

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So, if a mosquito has developed resistance to pyrethroids, the second insecticide gives the net another way to kill it.

The World Health Organisation prequalified PermaNet Dual in 2023 and recommends pyrethroid-chlorfenapyr nets in areas where mosquitoes have developed pyrethroid resistance.

That, however, doesn’t mean the nets are a magic shield against malaria. WHO says dual-insecticide nets should form part of a wider malaria-control programme, alongside measures such as testing and treatment, surveillance and other mosquito-control methods.

Until now, Nigeria has depended heavily on imported mosquito nets. Producing the newer nets locally could help shorten supply chains, build manufacturing expertise and make it easier for malaria programmes to access next-generation prevention tools.

It also fits into Nigeria’s wider push to manufacture more essential healthcare products domestically.