Member to Member

For those of us who live in malaria-free countries, our risk of infection is small because it is limited to travel in areas where the disease is rampant. But if we try to imagine the situation of a subsistence farmer in sub-Saharan Africa, where the risk of infection and death from malaria is high, prevention becomes a constant and vital concern. Even if this farmer could afford chemical pesticides and understood how to use them safely, eradicating disease-bearing Anopheles mosquitoes with DDT, the historically preferred poison, is problematic, to say the least. The malaria transmitting Anopheles mosquitoes are rapidly developing résistance to DDT. In addition, this chemical, one of twelve listed in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants,1 has accumulated in the environment to the extent that it has become a health hazard. The Stockholm Convention was ratified by more than 120 countries and has been in force since May 2004. It gives DDT special status because of the developing world’s need to battle malaria while the transition to environmentally-friendly solutions is being made.2 DDT was banned in Switzerland in 1972 and is now on its way out world-wide. The search for sustainable, environmentally-friendly solutions is on.

So what can you, a subsistence farmer, do to protect yourself and the most vulnerable members of your family, your children, from malaria? If you live in Nyabondo or Malindi, Kenya, you can learn first-hand about the work of BioVision, a Swiss foundation which has set itself the goal of “…making long term research in the field of biological pest control accessible to poor people in developing countries.”2
BioVision attacks malaria where it begins, at Anopheles mosquito breeding sites. In Nyabondo, malaria project manager Dr. François Omelin and his team use the Integrated Pest Management(IPM) strategy. Not only do they distribute mosquito nets for immediate protection, they also educate local people about how mosquito breeding areas can be eliminated and remaining sites can be treated with Bti, an environmentally-friendly natural pesticide. After the project team has finished its work, villagers will be able to take charge of malaria prevention themselves. Education, local empowerment, and use of environmentally-friendly pest control methods are major pillars in BioVision’s program.

Integrated Pest Management, an environmentally-friendly pest control strategy, has many advantages over industrial pesticides. In the Kenyan highlands, where Nyabondo is situated, 90% of the Anopheles breeding grounds are man-made. Destroying them wherever possible effectively reduces the mosquito population and can also lower expenditures for pest control products. Treating the remaining breeding grounds with Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, a natural pesticide which kills only mosquito larvae, is the next step. So far, Bti has had to be imported at prices beyond the reach of African farmers. That will change in the very new future when a factory in Nairobi begins commercial production of the toxin. A major initiator of the factory is Nairobi’s International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), a research center whose results inspired the creation of BioVision and its programs.

Another environmentally-friendly method of eradicating mosquito larvae involves treating stagnant water with neem tree shavings at breeding time. BioVision has established and provided start-up capital for Biop Ltd., a small local Nairobi enterprise which produces natural health products using neem tree seeds and is working to improve its biological plant protection products. In Malindi, Kenya, BioVision staff members teach local people how to identify mosquito breeding grounds and eliminate larvae without chemicals. The self-help group, PUMMA, has nearly 200 “Mosquito Scouts” whose task is to locate sites so that they can be treated with non-chemical insecticide.

The founder and Chairman of the Board of BioVision Foundation, Dr. Hans Rudolf Herren, is a World Food Prize Laureate and, even more important, a man who cares deeply about the well-being of people in developing and less-privileged nations. He recently resigned as Director of ICIPE to take over the leadership of the prestigious Millennium Institute, where his unique knowledge and abilities can advance the organization towards realizing its “…vision is of a sustainable and more peaceful and equitable future for Earth.”.3

In comparison with chemical malaria prevention strategies, Integrated Pest Management operates from an understanding of the relationship of Anopheles mosquitoes to Earth’s living systems. Knowledge, local education and empowerment, and the use and availability of natural pesticides can significantly reduce the Anopheles and the number of malaria cases in the area. The work of BioVision is an inspiring example of new ways of combating hunger and disease without compromising the long-term health of human beings and the biosphere.

Ann Zulliger

References
1. www.ciel.org/Chemicals/pops_stockholm.html
2. www.biovision.ch/
Unless otherwise cited, all references to BioVision come from BioVision’s website, its Annual Report 2004, or from telephone conversations with BioVision’s office in Zurich.
3. www.millenniuminstitute.net/