The Butterfly Tree, a UK charity and NGO in Zambia to support rural communities decimated by the HIV pandemic in Zambia, has been given a licence to import two safe new products to use in the prevention of malaria and other vector-borne diseases.

Globally malaria is the biggest killer of man. 75 per cent of people who die from malaria are children under five, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The products could potentially save the lives of thousands of children and also help to prevent Onchocerciasis, commonly known as river blindness, caused by the black fly. In areas of the Northern and Western Provinces one in ten people suffer from this condition and currently there are no preventative methods available in Zambia.

The Ministry of Health and the Malaria Control Centre in Zambia have welcomed the products. They have been tested by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the UK and the active ingredients used have been approved by the World Health Organisation.

The Butterfly Tree is to be given licenses to import and distribute throughout Zambia. Besides using it for our humanitarian projects we are contacting all corporates operating in the nation as this could be hugely beneficial to the mining, agriculture and tourist industries.

Many productive hours are lost as a result of malaria. By selling it to corporates we will be able to create sustainability for our water, health, education and community projects in addition to extensively distributing the products to vulnerable communities.

The first product, MozziMort, is an insecticidal coating used on any hard surface that lasts for two years and could replace the normal method of insecticide spraying, which only lasts for six months.

The second product, MozziMort Larvicide granules, prevents mosquito larvae reaching adult stage.