Giving Compass' Take:

• In Burkina Faso, new nets made with chemicals targeting insecticide-resistant mosquitoes were found to be successful in reducing the number of cases of malaria after a two year trial period.

• How can philanthropists now help the researchers disperse these nets in targeted countries that need the most help battling malaria? 

• Watch Sonia Shah's TED Talk on the lasting solutions for ending malaria. 

Bed nets with new chemicals designed to target insecticide-resistant mosquitoes have decreased clinical malaria cases by 12% after a two-year trial in Burkina Faso, according to new research. The research, which was published in the scientific journal the Lancet last week, brought together Durham University, Liverpool’s School of Tropical Medicine, Burkina Faso’s Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme, and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

“The 12% reduction may look small, but it’s actually huge: If we had rolled the nets out across the whole of Burkina Faso, then we would have reduced the number of malaria attacks in children under five by 700,000, or by 1.2 million for the whole population.”

Traditional bed nets use a pyrethroid insecticide, but malaria mosquitoes are becoming more and more resistant to it, according to the Guardian. Not only has Burkina Faso seen a 12% decrease in malaria cases, but researchers also revealed a 51% reduction in overall exposure to mosquitoes and a 52% reduction in moderate anemia among children.

While almost half of the world are at risk of malaria, cases are most prominent in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

These new nets could therefore mean big news in the fight against preventable diseases like malaria — and in decreasing mortality rates of children around the world.

Read the full article about mosquito nets by Jackie Marchildon at Global Citizen