To save lives bycreating products that prevent disease is the mission of the Swiss-basedcompany, Vestergaard-Frandsen. Examples of these devices include the LifeStraw,which turns dirty water into clean, preventing diseases like cholera, guineaworm and diarrhea. Another is a long-lasting insecticide-treated bednet, whichprevents malaria. In this fifth of a five-part series we explore a product thatalso prevents malaria, as well as other diseases. It's an insecticide-treatedplastic sheeting called "ZeroFly."
MikkelVestergaard-Frandsen, the company's chief executive officer, says it's used foremergencies like wars and natural disasters. The CEO says the ZeroFly plastic sheeting isfour meters by five meters in size and made with a woven mesh. He describes its two uses, "We developedZeroFly as a dual purpose tool; it functions as a shelter in emergencysituations and it kills mosquitoes as they land on the shelter."
Vestergaard-Frandsen says the diseaseprevention part of the protective sheeting can save lives when more than justshelter is needed. For example, he says, if a war breaks out, a volcano erupts,or there's a flood, people run to a safer place than where they came from. Buthe says even if people escape disaster, they're still vulnerable to disease.
"Across sub-Saharan Africa ? at least sincethe end of the cold war ? in no war have you recorded more deaths from bulletsand bombs than from parasites and bacteria. That makes ZeroFly so interesting,because it effectively has an impact on the second death peak. The second deathpeak is when you keep people alive in a crowded place such as a refugee campand a malaria epidemic starts erupting," he says.
The C-E-O says ZeroFly is unique in thissituation because it not only provides shelter but also protects againstdisease when people are at risk, in this kind of an emergency. Like some of theother company products, the insecticide is dispersed over a long period oftime.
Vestergaard-Frandsen points out that ZeroFlyis unique in its two-for-one design.
"The impressive thing, really, is that thereis nothing else out there like it. There is nothing that is specificallydesigned for the acute phase of an emergency. There is huge potential forZeroFly to change health management as we know it today."
If you'd like more information about Zero Flyand the other disease-preventing Vestergaard-Frandsen products, goto their website at dashFrandsen dot com. Vestergaard is spelled v-e-s-t-e-r-g-a-a-r-d. And Frandsen isspelled F-r-a-n-d-s-e-n. That website address again is dashFrandsen dot com.