Insecticide-treated bednets and chemoprophylaxis reduce malaria mortality and parasite prevalence.

This commentary discusses an influential study from 1993 that demonstrated, among West African children, an overall mortality benefit of insecticide-impregnated bednets, and the reduction of malaria prevalence by chemoprophylaxis. Led by Brian Greenwood and colleagues in The Gambia, the trial also showed these tools to be affordable and practicable. In the years since, >2 billion bednets have been provided to high-risk populations and have contributed greatly to reductions in malaria-attributable mortality. Seasonal malaria chemoprevention now protects 50 million African children annually. Few interventions in tropical medicine have achieved such an impact.