Category: Global Health

The ZeroFly Storage Bag

  A manufacturer of health products that guard against the spread of disease, Vestergaard Frandsen serves a global customer base under the leadership of its owner and CEO, Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen. Key products offered by the company include the LifeStraw portable water purifier and the ZeroFly livestock screen.

Just as the insecticide-incorporated ZeroFly Screen protects livestock from illnesses spread by the tsetse and other biting flies, the insecticide-incorporated ZeroFly Storage Bag prevents the loss of grain or seeds due to similar pest infestations. Because the ZeroFly Storage Bag is capable of safeguarding contents for extended periods of time, it also allows farmers and distributors to postpone sales in order to obtain optimum prices.

Problems with grain and seed storage during the post-harvest process result in the loss of approximately 10 to 30 percent of annual food production around the world. The ZeroFly Storage Bag allows the agricultural industry to combat these problems without resorting to potentially hazardous fumigation or insecticide spraying.

WHO Approves New Class of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets

Headquartered in Switzerland, Vestergaard (founded as Vestergaard Frandsen) offers a host of global health solutions focused on improving health among vulnerable people in the developing world. Among Vestergaard Frandsen’s innovative products are PermaNet® 3.0 Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINS), which are designed to prevent malaria.

A 2018 milestone was announced at the 7th Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, with a new class of PBO (piperonyl butoxide) LLINs being approved for use by the World Health Organization (WHO). With LLINs individual access in Africa increasing from 34 percent to 61 percent from 2010 to 2016, they help kill insecticide resistant mosquitoes in regions that have high malaria transmission. They have been a primary driver in a 68 percent decrease in malaria cases across Africa.

Unfortunately, resistance has been increasing to the bed net approved insecticide pyrethroid. This necessitates next generation solutions such as PBOs, which work by blocking the metabolic enzymes employed by the mosquito in breaking down the insecticide. Company CEO Mikkel Vestergaard described the WHO decision as enabling a simple, easy-to-use intervention that stands as “one of the cheapest ways to save lives.”