What is an insecticide-treated bed net?

A bed net is a net that hangs above a sleeping space, usually a bed or matt, and provides a physical barrier between the malaria-carrying mosquito and the person at risk of getting the disease. An insecticide-treated bed net protects the person sleeping under the net even if the net has small holes in it, because the insecticide kills mosquitoes that do get through the net before they reach the sleeping person. Since insecticide-treated nets kill the mosquitoes, they help reduce malaria transmission community-wide (if there is high use of insecticide-treated nets in the community). Bed nets have been shown to greatly reduce malaria morbidity and mortality, especially in children under 2. A study of bed net usage in western Kenya reports a 25 percent reduction in death among children. Even where insecticide-treated nets have been recommended for all children under 5 for years, most children do not sleep under a bed net. A long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net costs an average of $5.00, and this cost is far beyond the reach of most families in poor rural African communities who survive through subsistence farming. Source: CDC