• In Kenya, approximately 14.9 million substandard mosquito nets were distributed countrywide in 2017 and 2018, the Global Fund says.
• The nets sent to Kenya tear off easily, and might not kill or disable mosquitoes.
Millions of Kenyans were issued with substandard mosquito nets between 2017 and 2019, an investigation by Global Fund has established.
The nets are partly blamed for spikes in malaria cases in Kenya and other countries that were affected.
In Kenya, approximately 14.9 million substandard mosquito nets were distributed countrywide in 2017 and 2018, the Global Fund says.
The culprit is the Pakistani-based manufacturer of the Dawa-Plus nets, who used ineffective chemical amounts and shabby fabric.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority has also been fingered for continuing to buy the nets directly from the Pakistani manufacturer, known as Tana Netting, in total disregard for quality control reports.
The Global Fund notified affected countries of the defective nets in March last year, and has now published its full findings.
Mosquito nets act as a physical barrier, preventing insect bites. Adding insecticide enhances protection, killing or disabling mosquitoes through contact with the chemical.
However, the nets sent to Kenya tear off easily, and might not kill or disable mosquitoes.
“The nets had a reduced life span and were outside of the required product specification, due to being under-dosed with insecticide,” Global Fund says in its report.
The problem was noticed as early as 2018 but nets that had already been procured were distributed anyway.
The fund said it worked with Kenya and other affected countries to weigh the risks and benefits of using the nets.
“Many national programmes decided to distribute the nets to ensure populations at risk were protected.”
“We take some reassurance in the fact that the type of quality failings seen mean that the families still benefited from significant levels of protection from these nets.”
At least 20 other African countries also received the bogus nets. Tana Netting was a GF prequalified supplier and had committed to quality control procedures, which it did not follow.
The fund usually gives money to countries to buy from contracted manufacturers.
GF said it will demand back the money paid to Tana Netting for mosquito nets in 2017 and 2018.
“Tana did not adhere to approved manufacturing requirements and failed to control product quality of over 52 million Dawa Plus 2.0 LLINs costing US$106m, in violation of the Supplier Framework Agreement,” it said.
The fund further faulted Kemsa, which procures mosquito nets for Kenya.
It also acknowledged its own failings saying it had no procedures to monitor whether Kemsa and the National Treasury (the Principal Recipient of GF funds) were providing quality control testing results to the Global Fund.
“For example, the Global Fund secretariat could not confirm whether it received pre-shipment testing results for 5.7 million Dawa Plus 2.0 nets procured directly from Tana by a Principal Recipient in Kenya, at a cost to the Global Fund of US$13.8 million.”
Other countries that also bought nets are Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Angola, Benin, DRC, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Togo and Zambia.
Edited by P.O