Nigeria has started producing a new type of mosquito net designed to kill insects that have developed resistance to standard insecticides. The double-action nets, called PermaNet Dual, are now being manufactured at a factory in the Lagos Free Zone owned by Health Textiles Nigeria FZE, a company wholly held by Swiss-based Vestergaard.
The facility is the first in Nigeria to make insecticide-treated nets containing two active ingredients. At full capacity, it is expected to produce up to 10 million nets each year and employ more than 600 people.
Standard insecticide-treated nets work by creating a physical barrier between people and mosquitoes, with the insecticide killing or repelling insects that land on the fabric. The problem is that mosquitoes can develop resistance to pyrethroids, the class of insecticide traditionally used on most nets. PermaNet Dual combines deltamethrin, a pyrethroid, with chlorfenapyr, a pyrrole insecticide that works through a different mode of action. If a mosquito has built up 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.
The production launch comes as Nigeria carries the heaviest malaria burden in the world. WHO data for 2024 puts Nigeria at about 24.3% of global malaria cases and 30.3% of global malaria deaths. Estimates based on WHO figures put Nigeria's 2024 malaria cases at roughly 68.5 million, with about 184,830 deaths.
Malaria still sends millions of Nigerians to hospitals and keeps parents awake through feverish nights. The disease claims thousands of lives every year.
The WHO has said dual-insecticide nets should not be treated as a standalone solution. The organisation recommends they be used as part of a wider malaria-control programme that includes testing and treatment, surveillance and other mosquito-control methods.
Until now, Nigeria has relied heavily on imported mosquito nets. Producing the newer nets locally could shorten supply chains and make it easier for malaria programmes to access next-generation prevention tools. The move also fits into Nigeria's broader push to manufacture more essential healthcare products domestically.
According to Pulse.ng.
