Global guidance on bednet purchasing needed, analysis suggests

"According to analysis led by Kanika Bahl and Pooja Shaw of Results for Development's (R4D's) Market Dynamics team, improved global incentives and information on cost-effectiveness could save the fight against malaria up to $630 million over the next five years and encourage manufacturers to produce better-performing nets," Bahl, a managing director for R4D, and Shaw, a program officer in the Market Dynamics Practice at R4D, write in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog. "Using their central position in global [long-lasting insecticide-treated net (LLIN)] markets, donor institutions can introduce policy incentives to focus on cost-effectiveness and rationalize specifications so that suppliers can take advantage of economies of scale in production," they continue, adding, "To implement these policies, global guidance on the performance of various nets is urgently needed, and this is where organizations such as the WHO can provide direction" (8/27).