CONGO-HEALTH: Mosquito Repellent Banned

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nana Rosine Ngangoue

BRAZZAVILLE, Jan 16 1996 (IPS) - The recent banning of a Chinese mosquito repellent has put the spotlight on the problems of health care in cash-strapped Congo.

The product was launched here in the 1970s, at the height of Sino-Congolese cooperation. Popularly called ‘Mosquito’ because of its target or ‘Serpentin’ because of its spiral shape, this product burns like incense, releasing a smoke that kills mosquitoes.

It proved effective against mosquitoes, the vectors of malaria, which to this day kills thousands of Congolese and up to two million Africans each year.

But health officials here have just banned its use, on the grounds that its chemical-make up is harmful to not only mosquitoes, but also humans and the environment.

“Serpentine, whose brand name is ‘Cock Brand’, contains dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) a chemical which is very dangerous for human beings. Its inhalation in the form of smoke allows it to become fixed in the central nervous system and thus, causes nervous disorders in the victim,” explains Albert Massoussa, director of Pharmacies, Laboratories and Medicines in Congo.

According to Massoussa, DDT causes agitation, disorientation, the disruption of voluntary motor functions, convulsions, depression of the nervous system as well as hyper-agitation of the cardiac muscle.

“The sum total of negative effects forced the banning of this product throughout the world. In Africa, Chad and the Central African Republic adopted this ban in 1985,” stresses Massoussa.

Congo’s Health Ministry is doing all it can to alert the population of roughly 2.5 million people of the dangers of the mosquito coil. Importation and sale of ‘Cock Brand’ are strictly forbidden while importers who still have the product in stock have been asked to destroy it immediately.

At regular intervals, warnings are broadcast on national radio and TV, a message which is also being spread throughout the country’s various regions by its prefects and mayors.

But many people here are loathe to forego the cheapest available means of combating mosquitoes, in a country where nets — whose prices range between 12,000 CFA (about 26 dollars) and 20,000 CFA (44 dollars) — are too expensive for most people.

“We were buying it at just 75 CFA (about 16 cents). Before the devaluation (of the CFA franc) it cost less than that — 40 CFA (about nine cents),” says Merline Bandza, who sells beauty products in Brazzaville.

“In my quarter, Moungali, where there are plenty of mosquitoes, it’s impossible to sleep a wink at night because of them,” she adds. “As mosquito nets are relatively expensive, ‘Mosquito’ is just the thing.”

Merline’s neighbour, Celine Mongo, also recognises the coil’s effectiveness but blames it for the frequent colds suffered by her children.

“Previously, I didn’t believe that this product was harmful because it was really getting rid of the mosquitoes,” Mongo, a housewife, says. “But my children had chronic colds that I couldn’t treat. When my husband managed to buy a mosquito net, we then abandoned ‘Mosquito’. A few days later, my children’s colds disappeared.”

Some poor people here argue that even if the repellent is dangerous, the authorities should have acted sooner to protect the health of the poor.

“In the whole business, it’s we the poor who are paying. Didn’t they know from the start that the product was dangerous for human beings?” demands Safou Antoine, a retired civil servant.

The officials attribute the delayed withdrawal of the coil from the market to the lack of scientific information and technical means for controlling the quality of drugs in Congo.

“Every medical technician knows that DDT is toxic to human beings. But we didn’t know that it was contained in ‘Serpentine’ because we have no means of controlling the quality and chemical composition of products,” says Massoussa.

With four out of 10 Congolese dependent on the coil as a means of malaria prevention, its banning will almost certainly trigger a resurgence in the disease as pharmaceutical products are too costly for most people here. An anti-mosquito spray costs as mush as 3,000 CFA (6.5 dollars).

Meanwhile, the Brazzaville-based World Health Organisation, African Regional Headquarters (OMS/AFRO) says it is unaware of the official position on ‘Serpentin’ but acknowledges that Congo is a sovereign state, free to take decisions which it considers necessary for the public’s interest.

An OMS/AFRO official, responsible for malaria says that ‘Serpentin’ is still used effectively and without danger in Southern African households.

Currently, Congo is trying a new method to combat mosquitoes. This is the mosquito nets on which are poured a liquid whose odour repels the insects. But there have been calls for deeper study of this method, to test it for harmful effects on humans.

Moreover, an operation to clean and fill up pools of stagnant water — breeding grounds for mosquitoes — is being carried out by young volunteers in Brazzaville.