Anti-malaria initiative from UN

The United Nations (UN) has launched a new anti-malaria initiative that will not rely on controversial pesticide Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) as much as in the past.

Around 40 countries in Africa, Central Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean will be involved in new projects with the UN, with non-chemical techniques being used.

These will include providing more mesh screens, to fish that eat mosquito larvae, as well as planting mosquito-repellent trees and eliminating potential breeding sites for the insects.

Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said: "The new projects underline the determination of the international community to combat malaria while realising a low, indeed zero, DDT world.

"Today we are calling time on a chemical rooted in the scientific knowledge and simplistic options of a previous age."

In Mexico and Central America, there has been a successful non-DDT pilot programme for the past five years, which has reduced malaria cases by more than 60 per cent.

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