Canadian woman is fighting to get anti-malaria mosquito repellent to her native Burundi.

Posted on November 12th, 2010

A research by a Canadian University is inspiring a project that could protect Burundians from deadly malaria infections.

By Awakhiwe Dlodlo

Ginette Karirekinyana

When Ginette Karirekinyana found out that Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique has discovered a natural way to make anti-mosquito repellent, she knew she had found a solution for her native Burundi.

“In Burundi, malaria kills pregnant women and children more than HIV/Aids,” said Karirekinyana, who teaches business ethics at the University of Laval in Quebec city.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Malaria infections rising in Burundi.

World Health Organization (WHO) statistics show that between 2000 and 2008 the number of malaria cases in Burundi jumped from 308,095 to 876,741 cases.

Karirekinyana said the epidemic is due to poverty. Many people live close to dense forests and open bodies of water infested by malaria carrying mosquitoes. Even though WHO has implemented anti-malaria strategies such as providing bed nets for villagers, people still continue to die.

“Mosquito nets do help but people are being bitten by mosquitoes when they wake up early morning and also in the evening before they go to sleep. They need protection during that time,” said Karirekinyana

Solution found in a herb

Catnip

The protection that Karirekinyana wants to take to Burundi is steam-distilled oil extracted from catnip.

“Catnip is like any other herb, the active ingredient is called nepitolactone and when you add hydrogen, the product becomes a mosquito repellent,” said Professor Gregory Patience of Ecole Ploytechnique Montreal, who is heading the research team that discovered this solution.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Unlike other mosquito repellent products available on the market, catnip oil is relatively easy to produce and safer to use, said Patience, who teaches chemical engineering.

“The side effects or toxicology findings prove that at 15% concentration it is non-toxic in touch, whereas with some of the products on the market, they are non-toxic on the skin but the moment you touch the eyes, some of them can be toxic,” said Patience. “ We take into consideration that you will also use this product on children and they will rub their eyes.”

Patience said that the catnip oil reduces the number of bites from mosquitoes by 92 per cent.

Making repellent accessible to Burundians

Patience in Burundi.

Karirekinyana has traveled with Patience and his team to Burundi to look at how this product can be made accessible to ordinary Burundians.

Karirekinyana said the goal is to give resources to the locals so that they can work on the project themselves. That would mean planting, harvesting, extracting the oil and packaging it in Burundi.

“With this kind of a project, we will be able to create sustainable development while keeping people healthy,” said Karirekinyana

She said that the catnip mosquito repellent project meets requirement set by the United Nations under its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs project was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2002 to develop a concrete action plan to reverse poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people in the developping world.

Karirekinyana (in green) with locals in Nyabiraba, rural Bujumbura.

“Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world and because malaria attacks the poor, we cannot be productive in any way, we become fragile and vulnerable at all levels including economically and socially,” said Karirekinyana. “So the project will have an impact in development, maternal health, education, environment, gender equality for women, world partnership and in this project we have international relations too.”

Positive response from government of Burundi

The first challenge for Karirekinyana was to get the Burundian government on board.

“When we met the government officials in Burundi in July 2010, they endorsed the project and expressed great interest,” she said. “So we have already set up partnerships with the government and signed agreements to be able to produce the repellents in Burundi.”

Karirekinyana (centre) at a conference in Burundi.

She said seeds have been distributed for planting to start the trial phase of catnip oil production. Burundians already have a traditional oil extraction method used for palm oil but Karirekinyana said that wouldn’t be efficient.

“We have to bring in the technology that would make it efficient to produce the oil,” said Karirekinyana. “This means we need about 30 million dollars to implement the project and cover cots in cultivation, extraction, the dehydrogenation, because it’s an industry that doesn’t exist in Burundi yet.”

The biggest challenge is money

Karirekinyana said finding the money to set up the project in Burundi is the biggest challenge. Most of the money to start the trial phase production so far has come from Ecole Polytechnique and private donors but it is not enough.

Patience presenting the project at a conference in Burundi.

She is working on presenting the project to international organizations in Canada and elsewhere, including the agencies that work with WHO such as Roll Back Malaria, the World Bank and other anti-malaria organizations.

The catnip repellent will be distributed through health centers, hospitals and health workers. The government of Burundi is also being asked to subsidize the costs for those who can’t afford to buy it.

The project is expected to generate money from exports, Karirekinyana said.

Finding enough land to plant catnip seeds is another challenge.

“You need a lot of plant to produce a bit of oil,” said Patience. “It’s one to three kilograms of oil per one thousand kilograms of plant.”

Patience said they have been encouraged by a donation of 50 hectares from a local business woman in Burundi. But much more land is needed.

A villager uses the traditional way of making palm oil.

“We would like to increase the productivity without needing too much land,” said Patience

Hope for UN funds

Karirekinyana said the United Nations committed three billion dollars towards the fight against malaria.

She is hoping some of that money can be channeled towards their project since it adheres to the MDGs to be realized by 2015.

“I believe it is my job to make sure that this project can be implemented to help my people, not only in Burundi but also in other countries affected by malaria,” said Karirekinyana. “It is not right for us to have this knowledge and not be able to use it to improve the lives of the vulnerable people.”

Note: By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that Radio Canada International has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever. Radio Canada International does not endorse any of the views posted. Your comments will be pre-moderated and published if they meet netiquette guidelines.