Now Its Insecticide -Treated Curtain

THE fight against mosquito bites has gone beyond mosquito nets.  In use now are insecticide treated curtains hung across  windows or doors.  They kill and repel houseflies and mosquitoes.

The new produce, known as PermaNet Curtain, was launched on Friday at Accra's busiest market, Makola, by Mr Marseille Vanbeek, the regional director of the manufacturing company, Vestergaard Frandsen Group of South Africa.

Mr Vanbeek explained that the PermaNet  Curtains are coated with a special insecticide that gives them a long lasting power to kill and repel mosquitoes and all types of flies.

He said unlike other curtains, PermaNet Curtains have the capacity to kill and repel mosquitoes and houseflies for at least two years, if they are washed once every four months.

Mr Vanbeek said the use of PermaNet Curtains would reduce the risk of contracting malaria and any other fever that results from  mosquitoe bites.

An entomologist and a Public Health Nurse, Mrs Denis Kalmoni, in an  address, lent credence to the efficacy of the PermaNet  curtains, adding that, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had endorsed it.

She said if Ghanaians patronised the use of the curtains, the number of people who visit hospitals with malaria cases would reduce drastically.

Mrs Kalmoni however cautioned people using the PermaNet  Curtains to dry them under a shade after washing it to prolong its efficacy,  beyond the two years.

Most of the market women and customers the Times interviewed said they were happy that, such a product had been introduced in Ghana.

They said, if they found PermaNet Curtains as an effective weapon against  mosquitoes, they would recommend its use to their relatives living in the rural areas.