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05:53Last update on: 12 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Mon 12 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair? Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform. SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
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| 2013-07-23
Students invent award-winning Soap to Tackle Malaria
FASOAP … Moctar Dembele and Gerard Niyondiko are the creators of Faso Soap, a soap designed to help tackle malaria.
Your head is pounding, burning with raging fever, your aching bones feeling like they weigh a ton. Covered in profuse sweating, your exhausted body shivers with teeth-chattering chills.
For anyone who’s suffered through severe bouts of malaria, this is the nauseating roller coaster the disease typically wreaks on its victims.
But now an award-winning innovation by two students in Burkina Faso could help reduce the devastating impact of the life-threatening disease, which is caused by parasites that are spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
Moctar Dembele, who is from Burkina Faso, and Gerard Niyondiko, from Burundi, have used locally sourced herbs and natural ingredients to create a soap they say repels mosquitoes, in order to prevent malaria.
Dubbed Fasoap, the innovation was awarded the US$25,000 grand prize in the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), in April. Launched by Berkeley MBA students, the GSVC is a global competition designed to help budding entrepreneurs transform their ideas into businesses that will have a positive social impact.
Fasoap is made from shea butter, essential lemongrass oil and other ingredients that are still a secret.
“After using the soap, it leaves on the skin a scent that repels mosquitoes,” says Niyondiko, who studies with Dembele at the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
“In addition, waste water products contain substances that prevent the development of mosquito larvae, because the sanitation problem in Africa is one of the causes of mosquito vectors of malaria.”
About half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, according to the World Health Organisation. The disease’s impact is mostly felt in the world’s poorest countries; in 2010, there were an estimated 660,000 malaria deaths, 90% of which occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, mostly among children under five years old.
In many of these countries, apart from its high toll on human life, malaria also exacts a heavy burden on their economies.
Household budgets are being squeezed by high fees for drugs and treatments, doctors’ fees and transportation to clinics; marginalised communities are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty due to lost productivity or income because of the disease; state funds are being drained to pay for the maintenance of health facilities and research programmes.
Niyondiko says their anti-malaria soap company, which is called Faso Soap, will help address all these issues. “In our country the majority of the population lives below the poverty line,” he explains, adding that most people can’t afford to regularly buy medicines and products such as anti-mosquito creams, sprays or protective nets.
“So we thought of a repellent and larvicidal mosquito soap which will be accessible and affordable to the majority of the population, seeing that soap is a commodity product and especially not going to add other additional costs to the population,” says Niyondiko.
“Our soap will fulfill the desire of the population to be clean, as well as protect them from malaria, without any additional cost to them.”
The team is now working on the optimisation of the soap through clinical trials, with the aim of entering the market by 2015, starting from Burkina Faso.
“Our goal is that our soap is widely distributed to reach the largest possible number in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world affected by malaria,” says Niyondiko. “This is to say that NGOs, companies will be our potential customers for the distribution of our products. After the victory obtained at Berkeley there are so many NGOs and companies who spoke of a partnership with us in order to distribute our soap in different parts, even outside Africa.”
James Logan, medical entomologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says: “The concept of putting a repellent into a soap is appealing as it can often be difficult to get people to use a topical repellent.” He cautions, however, that there needs to be published scientific evidence that the soap can successfully reduce malaria transmission.
To win the GSVC Grand Prize, Niyondiko and Dembele beat 650 competitors from nearly 40 countries. Their victory marks the first time an entry from Africa has won the competition.
“It is a feeling of joy and pride for us and for Africa in general,” says Niyondiko of their win. “It also shows that in Africa we are not back(ward) and that Africa’s problems can be solved by Africans themselves.”
– www.edition.cnn.com
But now an award-winning innovation by two students in Burkina Faso could help reduce the devastating impact of the life-threatening disease, which is caused by parasites that are spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes.
Moctar Dembele, who is from Burkina Faso, and Gerard Niyondiko, from Burundi, have used locally sourced herbs and natural ingredients to create a soap they say repels mosquitoes, in order to prevent malaria.
Dubbed Fasoap, the innovation was awarded the US$25,000 grand prize in the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), in April. Launched by Berkeley MBA students, the GSVC is a global competition designed to help budding entrepreneurs transform their ideas into businesses that will have a positive social impact.
Fasoap is made from shea butter, essential lemongrass oil and other ingredients that are still a secret.
“After using the soap, it leaves on the skin a scent that repels mosquitoes,” says Niyondiko, who studies with Dembele at the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
“In addition, waste water products contain substances that prevent the development of mosquito larvae, because the sanitation problem in Africa is one of the causes of mosquito vectors of malaria.”
About half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria, according to the World Health Organisation. The disease’s impact is mostly felt in the world’s poorest countries; in 2010, there were an estimated 660,000 malaria deaths, 90% of which occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, mostly among children under five years old.
In many of these countries, apart from its high toll on human life, malaria also exacts a heavy burden on their economies.
Household budgets are being squeezed by high fees for drugs and treatments, doctors’ fees and transportation to clinics; marginalised communities are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty due to lost productivity or income because of the disease; state funds are being drained to pay for the maintenance of health facilities and research programmes.
Niyondiko says their anti-malaria soap company, which is called Faso Soap, will help address all these issues. “In our country the majority of the population lives below the poverty line,” he explains, adding that most people can’t afford to regularly buy medicines and products such as anti-mosquito creams, sprays or protective nets.
“So we thought of a repellent and larvicidal mosquito soap which will be accessible and affordable to the majority of the population, seeing that soap is a commodity product and especially not going to add other additional costs to the population,” says Niyondiko.
“Our soap will fulfill the desire of the population to be clean, as well as protect them from malaria, without any additional cost to them.”
The team is now working on the optimisation of the soap through clinical trials, with the aim of entering the market by 2015, starting from Burkina Faso.
“Our goal is that our soap is widely distributed to reach the largest possible number in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world affected by malaria,” says Niyondiko. “This is to say that NGOs, companies will be our potential customers for the distribution of our products. After the victory obtained at Berkeley there are so many NGOs and companies who spoke of a partnership with us in order to distribute our soap in different parts, even outside Africa.”
James Logan, medical entomologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says: “The concept of putting a repellent into a soap is appealing as it can often be difficult to get people to use a topical repellent.” He cautions, however, that there needs to be published scientific evidence that the soap can successfully reduce malaria transmission.
To win the GSVC Grand Prize, Niyondiko and Dembele beat 650 competitors from nearly 40 countries. Their victory marks the first time an entry from Africa has won the competition.
“It is a feeling of joy and pride for us and for Africa in general,” says Niyondiko of their win. “It also shows that in Africa we are not back(ward) and that Africa’s problems can be solved by Africans themselves.”
– www.edition.cnn.com
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