[afro-nets] WHO Promotes DDT to Combat the Scourge of Malaria

[Claudio Schuftan <claudio@hcmc.netnam.vn>]

Reversing its Policy, WHO Promotes DDT to Combat the Scourge of
Malaria
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From: UNNews@un.org

New York, Sep 15 2006 2:00PM
Nearly 30 years after safety concerns led to the phasing out of
indoor spraying with DDT and other insecticides to control
malaria, the United Nations health agency said today it will
start promoting this method again to fight the global scourge
that kills more than one million people every year, including
around 3,000 children everyday.

"The scientific and programmatic evidence clearly supports this
reassessment. Indoor residual spraying is useful to quickly
reduce the number of infections caused by malaria-carrying
mosquitoes," said Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, World Health
Organization
(<"http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2006/pr50/en/ind
ex.html">WHO) Assistant Director-General for HIV/AIDS, TB and
Malaria.

"Indoor residual spraying has proven to be just as cost
effective as other malaria prevention measures, and DDT presents
no health risk when used properly." Indoor residual spraying is
the application of long-acting insecticides on the walls and
roofs of houses and domestic animal shelters.

"We must take a position based on the science and the data,"
said Dr Arata Kochi, Director of WHO's Global Malaria Programme.
"One of the best tools we have against malaria is indoor
residual house spraying. Of the dozen insecticides WHO has
approved as safe for house spraying, the most effective is DDT."

WHO actively promoted indoor residual spraying for malaria
control until the early 1980s when increased health and
environmental concerns surrounding DDT caused the organization
to stop promoting its use and to focus instead on other means of
prevention. Extensive research and testing has since
demonstrated that well-managed indoor residual spraying
programmes using DDT pose no harm to wildlife or to humans, the
agency said.

Views about the use of insecticides for indoor protection from
malaria have been changing in recent years. Environmental
Defense, which launched the anti-DDT campaign in the 1960s, now
endorses the indoor use of DDT for malaria control, as does the
Sierra Club and the Endangered Wildlife Trust.

At a news conference today, the WHO also called on all malaria
control programmes around the world to develop and issue a clear
statement outlining their position on indoor spraying with long-
lasting insecticides such as DDT, specifying where and how
spraying will be implemented in accordance with WHO guidelines.

Every year, more than 500 million people suffer from acute
malaria, resulting in more than one million deaths. At least 86
per cent of these deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally an
estimated 3,000 children and infants die from malaria every day
and 10,000 pregnant women die from malaria in Africa every year.
Malaria disproportionately affects poor people, with almost 60
percent of malaria cases occurring among the poorest 20 per cent
of the world's population.