Fighting against malaria by catnip

The International Cooperation Ethics Advisory Agency (ACECI) has exposed very recently the first products anti-mosquitoes made from catnip plant. Soaps, candles, aroma for cleaning large spaces, lotion and cream anti mosquito are now available at ACECI office.–By Lorraine Josiane Manishatse

Different articles of anti-mosquito products made of catnip by ACECI ©Iwacu

Catnip plant has been imported in Burundi from Canada by the Founding Executive of ACECI Karirekinyana Jinette. As ACECI is an International Organization, its main objective is to fight against poverty in general and malaria in particular. Then in Burundi ACECI project fights against malaria by products made from catnip. Nepata cataria commonly called catnip is a mosquito and a fly repellent. Oil isolated from it by steam distillation is a repellent against insects, in particular mosquitoes, cockroaches and termites.
According to Espérance Niyonzima, the Assistant Founding Executive of ACECI, that plant is more productive in hot area than in cold one.“We have planted seeds of catnip at Rutana, Bujumbura and Nyabiraba but in the latter area the productivity is not good,” she says.

Producing cheap anti mosquito products is their main objective

She indicates that after realizing that imported spray and other products of mosquito repellents are very expensive, they thought to produce simple products accessible to the majority of Burundians. “The majority of Burundians are not able to pay imported spray anti-mosquito products”, she regrets.  She mentions that among those produced articles there are toilet soaps at BIF 350, candles at BIF 500 and 5000 one piece. “We produce according to social classes,” she says. She explains that they have chosen to produce anti-mosquito candles because the majority of Burundian households don’t have electricity. They also produce aroma for cleaning great species. “We have used that product at “Prince Louis Rwagasore” Clinic in maternity rooms and we have realized that the feedback is really satisfactory,” she praises.

She highlights that those products are efficient for repelling mosquitoes, for at least, a duration of two hours.
It is worth mentioning that those products are now available at ACECI office, Rohero II, Mugamba Avenue n° 11. Niyonzima recognizes that their products are still quite expensive because their productivity is low. “We hope that when we improve our productivity, the price will decrease because our main objective is that the majority of Burundians use them,” she underlines.
Niyonzima warns people not to replace mosquito nets with anti mosquito products: “all those products are used before going to bed, so, people should continue to sleep under insecticide –treated nets”, she concludes.