Médecins Sans Frontières - IRS-social media video-INTER

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSB216901

Date taken / Date Recorded 09/12/2024 1:59 PM

Country Burundi, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Tanzania

Commissioning section MSF-SWITZERLAND

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Fundraising, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format prores (Standard) (apcn / 0x6E637061)

Duration 1m49s

Maximum Size 1080px × 1920px 1.48 GB

Additional Information / Shotlist These spray bottles will kill mosquitoes and prevent Malaria in this house for months, even though they’ve only been sprayed once; That’s the power of IRS. But what is that?

IRS stands for “Indoor Residual Spraying”. The idea of Indoor Residual Spraying is to spray an insecticide within houses, that is lethal to mosquitoes but harmless to humans. It is usually sprayed on walls, where mosquitoes would normally land and rest after biting. The insecticide remains on the sprayed surfaces for around six months after it has been applied and will remain effective at killing mosquitoes that land on it, hence the name residual. The aim of IRS is to reduce the number of disease-vectors, that is, ways a disease can infect people. This is called “vector-control”; In this case, it concerns mosquitoes that would otherwise transmit illnesses such as Malaria.

IRS has been used for decades, as it’s been known to be very effective at reducing the number of mosquitoes that transmit diseases. In fact, it’s one of the two effective methods to fight mosquitoes as stated by the World Health Organization, the other being long lasting mosquito nets that have been treated with insecticide. However, the proper application of IRS and chemical resistances by mosquitoes must be taken into account.

In the past couple of years, our teams have launched multiple Indoor Residual Spraying campaigns in various countries. We’ve been active in the Horn of Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Nigeria and Burundi. For example, in Nduta, a camp hosting refugees from Burundi, in Tanzania, we’ve sprayed 15’000 households in just one and a half months, and noticed a big drop in infections afterwards. The IRS campaigns we launch are more effective when implemented at larger scales.

For MSF, IRS campaigns are above all an effective tool for preventing Malaria in the countries we work in, ensuring we can reduce its spread and impact on the population.