Bed net statistics

When Susan Lassen travelled to one southern African country recently on behalf of the JC Flowers Foundation, which distributes bed nets through Christian groups to help combat malaria, she was disturbed by what she found.
Sacks containing 90,000 nets paid for by donors had been gathering dust in a warehouse for a year, as the government struggled to find ways to distribute them “the final mile” to people in need.
Her experience highlights the flipside of the prominence given to mosquito nets, which have become the focus of a campaign to achieve “universal coverage” by the end of this year, turning net manufacture, sale and distribution into a big business.
Reduced malaria deaths and infection rates in countries where bed net use is widespread, show their importance. They are a low-cost and effective “tool” that also offers a powerful way to raise money and awareness. ...
In fact, analysis suggests that it takes closer to 20 properly used nets (costing closer to $10 each, including all necessary overheads) to save a life and there is much debate about net reliability and how long they remain effective.
“We have done a terrible thing by putting a price tag on this,” says Ms Lassen. “It was very seductive but also very short-sighted. In five years’ time, people will say ‘But I already gave my $5. Why isn’t this solved?’”
There is little doubt that larger-scale, more consistent procurement of standardised nets by countries and international organisations could undoubtedly help save substantial sums....
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/740aec44-4ce6-11df-9977-00144feab49a,dwp_uuid=8d6b86d2-4cd5-11df-9977-00144feab49a.html