It is a global public-private partnership. The goal is to cut in half the world's malaria burden by 2010. The idea is to develop a market that will sustain itself so that commercial companies will keep on producing the bed nets at an affordable price and government subsidies ultimately can be eliminated. The commercial people are interested in sales. The initial educational and commercial campaigns will be reinforced seasonally with reminders to people to get their bed nets ready.
Mosquitoes rapidly become resistant to insecticides, and malaria has become resistant to drugs.
You don't get the disease. If we can jump start these commercial markets with government funds, then governments will have leveraged their funds considerably and can back out once the market is established. Bed nets are only part of the solution to malaria, which goes through a number of stages, Daulaire says. Most people don't die from it, but they get very sick and vulnerable to other diseases, so early detection and treatment are important. The holy grail of malaria control is a vaccine that works well against all of the different stages of the malaria parasite.