14 DAY TRIAL // Cornell University apparel design undergraduate student Matilda Ceesay and Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design postdoctoral researcher Frederick Ochanda created a bodysuit against mosquitoes, designed specifically for Africa.
The colored clothes can be worn throughout the day, and provide insecticide-based defense against the 4 most common vector of malaria. The condition kills around 655,000 people each year in Africa alone, and a widespread international effort is currently taking place to curb this trend.
The fashionable, hooded bodysuit the team created is embedded with an insecticide down at the molecular level. It represents significant progress from the standard, insecticide-laden nets that are commonly used to remove mosquitoes from homes in Aftica.
“The bond on our fabric is very difficult to break. The nets in use now are dipped in a solution and not bonded in this way, so their effectiveness doesn't last very long,” explains Ochanda, a native of Kenya, as quoted by EurekAlert.