As our research begins to wrap up, I focused today on untreated malaria nets and how effective they are compared to treated malaria nets. When I say treated and untreated, I mean whether or not the nets are treated with pesticides. Obviously, treated nets use pesticides while untreated nets do not. I found a lot of support for the use of untreated nets. Because malaria vectors are becoming increasingly more resistant to pesticides, pesticide treated nets are becoming less and less effective. In a study conducted in 48 villages in The Gambia, untreated nets prevented approximately 60% of malaria infections and 35% of clinical disease. In another study done in Papua New Guinea, untreated nets significantly reduced malaria vector survival and infection. In some trial sites, evidence suggested that high coverage with untreated nets delivered “significant gains ahead of the widespread use of [insecticide treated nets]”. After 4 long days of research, it’s finally time to start putting our presentation together!